The paper is concerned with the computation of high Reynolds number circular cylinder flow (Re = 3900/140,000) based on the large eddy simulation (LES) technique. Because this flow involves a variety of complex flow features encountered in technical applications, successful simulations for this test case, especially at high Reynolds numbers, can be considered as the first step to real world applications of LES. Based on an efficient finite-volume LES code, a detailed study on different aspects influencing the quality of LES results was carried out. In the present paper, some of the results are presented and compared with experimental measurements available.