The German word "Achtung" () in the album title translates into English as "attention" or "watch out". U2's sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy used the phrase "achtung baby" during recording, reportedly taking it from the Mel Brooks film "The Producers". The title was selected in August 1991 near the end of the album sessions. According to Bono, it was an ideal title, as it was attention-grabbing, referenced Germany, and hinted at either romance or birth, both of which were themes on the album. The band were determined not to highlight the seriousness of the lyrics and instead sought to "erect a mask" with the title, a concept that was further developed on the Zoo TV Tour, particularly through Bono's characters such as "The Fly". Of the title, he said in 1992, "It's a con, in a way. We call it "Achtung Baby", grinning up our sleeves in all the photography. But it's probably the heaviest record we've ever made... It tells you a lot about packaging, because the press would have killed us if we'd called it anything else."