This is the first ever anime film to be nominated for the Palme d'Or in the Cannes International Film Festival in 2004. It is the 6th animated film to enter the competition at Cannes.
A co-production with Studio Ghibli. Production I.G. president Mitsuhisa Ishikawa personally asked Ghibli president Toshio Suzuki to co-produce, as the projected budget of 2 billion yen ($20 million) was too much for one studio to handle.
The 5-minute parade sequence took a year to complete.
The opening sequence shows two cybernetic bodies angled so as to show two pairs of legs joined at the hip. This is a reference to the doll sculptures created by the German surrealist Hans Bellmer in the 1930's, and at one point in the film a book by Bellmer can be seen.
While Batou is in the Grocery Shop, as a hooded character walks past Batou, a voice tells him "You have entered the killzone"; many speculate the character is Motoko Kusanagi. In fact, in the 'special features' on the DVD, which documents the making of Innocence, Atsuko Tanaka (the voice actor for Motoko) is shown during one scene to be recording precisely that line in the studio. It therefore seems that the voice was indeed Motoko, Batou's guardian angel, warning him of Kim's impending hack of Batou's brain right there and then.
Mamoru Oshii: [Basset Hound] Director and Writer 'Mamoru Oshî' put a basset hound in the picture because he is a fan of the breed and owns one himself. He makes a reference to his own basset hound, Gabriel, in the scene inside Batô's apartment where the dog figurine plays music.