Kiruna was founded in the early 1900's when iron ore was discovered in the region. Today Kiruna is home to Europe's largest iron mine. The city, which grew around the iron mine, is a major industrial center in northern Sweden, as well as being host to a lively tourism industry.

The Swedish town of Kiruna will be moved building by building to a new location in the country due to years of mining that have caused it to sink into the ground. Valuable minerals have also been found in and around it, including Europe's largest deposit of rare earth minerals, used to make green technologies.

The real disaster of Kiruna was the earthquake that halted mining efforts in 2020, but the quake itself wasn't the issue in Netflix's disaster movie. Rather, most of the deaths seen in the film were the result of cave-ins and sinkholes in the town of Kiruna. In truth, this hasn't happened at all.

Kiruna is located in the north of Sweden, 145 kilometres (90 mi) north of the Arctic circle. The city centre is built on the Haukavaara hill at an altitude of 530 m, high above the Torne River to the north and the Kalix river to the south. Other parts of the town are Lombolo and Tuolluvaara.