Though The Secret Agent is fiction, director Kleber Mendonça Filho draws inspiration from the actual state-sponsored terror during Brazil's military rule in the 1970s. The construct of the dark triad focuses on three negative personality traits often found in people with power: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Her body was never found, and he had to leave Brazil or be murdered. Marcelo/Armando finds his way to the secret quarters of illegal refugees, desperate to leave Brazil. While surviving in Recife and waiting to leave Brazil, danger lurks around every corner.