The cleansing of the river spirit is based on a real-life incident in Hayao Miyazaki's life in which he participated in the cleaning of a river, removing, among other things, a bicycle.
Although it has a rich plot with developed characters, La città incantata (2001) was not made with a script. Hayao Miyazaki's films never had scripts during their production. "I don't have the story finished and ready when we start work on a film," the filmmaker told Midnight Eye. "I usually don't have the time. So, the story develops when I start drawing storyboards. The production starts soon while the storyboards are still developing." Miyazaki does not know where the plot is going, and he lets it happen organically. "It's not me who makes the film. The film makes itself, and I have no choice but to follow."
Although Hayao Miyazaki had considered retiring after completing Principessa Mononoke (1997), he was inspired to make this film after seeing a friend's sullen 10-year-old daughter.
There are several instances in the English-dubbed version where additional dialogue was absent in the original Japanese release. In an interview with John Lasseter, he explained that it was a necessary addition to help clarify some aspects for American audiences. For example, what is a bathhouse to a Japanese viewer might not be apparent to an American viewer. So, this translation issue was fixed by having the character explain, "Oh, it's a bathhouse."
This is the first film to earn US$200 million in grosses before opening in the U.S.
Hayao Miyazaki: [pigs] Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs as a result of eating food intended for the gods.