This is Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature film as a director. He would go on to direct such classics as Princess Mononoke and Spirited away.
The Lupin III franchise goes all the way back to 1965 with the Manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. The franchise spans Manga, multiple animated and live action TV series, movies and video games.
A spin off series named Lupin VIII was being created for Western audiences as a co-production between TMS and DIC, but various legal issues with the estate of the character of Lupin III caused the production to have to shut down. However, the two companies still wanted to move forward on a show with the momentum built and ended up creating Inspector Gadget which launched a long franchise of its own.
The production had a tight schedule and was completed in 4 months. Miyazaki had to alter the script in post production in order to make the release date and expressed disappointment with the finished film.
This was the first anime to play at the Cannes Film Festival.