Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a character named Laszlo Kovacs, which was the alias of his character Michel Poiccard in Fino all'ultimo respiro (1960).
Jean-Claude Brialy, who had starred in Claude Chabrol's Le beau Serge (1958) and I cugini (1959), was originally supposed to play the part of Laszlo Kovacs but fell ill before filming began. Jean-Paul Belmondo was brought on as a last minute replacement to play his first major role.
A doppia mandata (1959) was the first psychological thriller by Claude Chabrol which would come to predominate his career. The film introduces themes and motifs which would recur regularly in his work, such as an interest in mental derangement and bourgeois duplicity.