Hawaii-born cast members Jason Scott Lee and Tia Carrere helped the writers with dialog and accents.
One of the most complex aspects of Stitch's characterization is that it can be difficult to discern his emotions, primarily because his eyes lack pupils. The animators addressed this challenge by making Stitch's physical expressions very pronounced.
Disney promoted this movie with trailers inserting Stitch into some of its "classic" titles. Examples: La Petite Sirène (1989): Stitch surfs a wave that crashes down on Ariel. La Belle et la Bête (1991): Stitch causes the chandelier to fall during the ballroom scene, nearly smashing Belle and the Beast Aladdin (1992): Stitch steals Princess Jasmine from Aladdin during the "A Whole New World" magic carpet ride. Le Roi lion (1994): Stitch takes Simba's place on Pride Rock during the "Circle of Life" opening.
Almost all of the landscape scenes in the movie are recognizable locations in Hawaii. This is especially true in the film when Lilo and Stitch ride the bike around the island and in the closing sequence.
Although animators tried using computer-colored (but hand-drawn) digital cells instead of traditional hand-painted ones, this was the first Disney animated feature to incorporate watercolor-painted backgrounds since Dumbo (1941). A deliberate effort was made to give the film a warmer, more nostalgic appearance than most modern Disney films. Unlike other recent productions, this film does not employ the "Deep Canvas" technique found in Tarzan (1999), Atlantide, l'empire perdu (2001), or La Planète au trésor : Un nouvel univers (2002). Additionally, it contains only about five shots that utilize either a "multiplane camera" or a "3D camera" effect, and the use of tone mattes (shading and shadows on the characters) was kept to a minimum.