Trivia

According to Monkey Punch, Daisuke Jigen was based on James Coburn, particularly Britt, Coburn's gunslinger role in The Magnificent Seven (1960), who himself was based on Kyuzo from Seven Samurai (1954). Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Jigen's voice actor, has dubbed many of Coburn's roles in Japanese, Britt included.

Goemon Ishikawa was based on Kyuzo, the stoic warrior from Seven Samurai (1954).

Following the success of the "Lupin III" manga comic, TMS Entertainment and Toho collaborated together to produce this film. However, the two companies could not come to terms about the film's budget; this and several other problems caused the pilot film to never reach theaters. TMS decided to sell "Lupin III" for TV anime even though its more adult-oriented themes would make it a difficult sell. In October 1971, TMS managed to sell the idea to Yomiuri TV (YTV); they would air the series on television.

This is the first ever "Lupin III" feature, releasing two years after the manga began.

This was later re-released in 1989 as "Rupan Sansei: Shiikuretto Fairu" (Lupin III: The Secret Files). This title is in keeping with the dossier-style title cards at the start/end of the film.