The original Swedish version opens with Pippi riding astride her horse, Lilla Gubben, against a beautiful sunset, in slow motion. (The film's title is seen here.) A Western-style instrumental arrangement of the film's theme song, "Sommarsången" ("Summer Song"), permeates this scene. There is then a brief scene of Tommy and Annika entering Pippi's home, Villa Villekulla, with Pippi's pet monkey, Mr. Nilsson, in a small bed. Tommy and Annika then attempt to bake bread. Then, the opening credits continue. The same arrangement of "Sommarsången" as before now bursts into full gentle rhythm with soft bongo drums into a montage of Pippi riding Lilla Gubben at full speed in the sunset, some in real-time speed, others in slow-motion. (And occasionally, even two boxed-in shots over black, with some of the credits filling in the black spaces.) The opening credits then conclude with Pippi reaching her destination, Villa Villekulla.
In the 4-part German TV version, "With Pippi Longstocking on the Roll" ("Mit Pippi Langstrumpf auf der Walze"), the opening credits are almost the same as the credits for the German theatrical movie version (credits next to child-like drawings on a colorful background, only these are static and dissolve from one picture to the next, as opposed to moving around, as in the movie). The ending credits for all four parts uses the opening credits sequence of the original Swedish version (Pippi riding on Lilla Gubben in the sunset). The song "Hey, Pippi Longstocking" (the German version of "Here Comes Pippi Longstocking") plays in the opening credits of all four parts, and in the ending credits of all but Part 4, which plays the sad song "Goodbye, Pippi Longstocking" ("Auf Wiedersehen Pippi Langstrumpf" - the German rearrangement of "Goodbye, Little Pippi, Goodbye" from Episode 13 of the Swedish TV series). The concluding episode, "Part 4," is actually called "Last Part: Farewell to Pippi" ("Letzter Teil: Abschied von Pippi") in both the opening and ending credits, and aptly so, as this was the series finale in the German version.