From an interview with writer and director Neil Burger:
Q: Several of the illusions that are shown in the film are based on real illusions from that time.
A: That's what I tried to do with the illusions. It is based on a short story, and it has some of the illusions in it. I used that as my
point of departure.
Magicians at that time -- in a way it was kind of the highest
performing art at the time because it was certainly the most popular
-- were taking whatever was on the cutting edge of technology and adapting it to their performance. The sword illusion was based on
electromagnetism; a general audience wouldn't have been familiar with
the application of it.
How did it actually work? The magician who designed the trick, Ricky Jay, won't say:
When an actor or a director must know how an illusion works to
accomplish the artistic goal, we gladly comply, but we abjure
gratuitous exposure. Our intent is not to be coy but to uphold our
belief that preserving secrets can help to excite and mystify an
audience, whether the performance is on stage or screen.
Actor Ed Norton learned and performed the tricks for the movie, but I expect he was sworn to secrecy!
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