The film was created in 1967 thanks to a process called animography, developed by Jean Dejoux, a researcher at French television RTF, who presented it to the creators of Asterix.

It was Georges Dargaud, publisher of Pilote magazine, and Raymond Leblanc, head of the Belvision studio, who initiated in 1967 the adaptation of the 'Asterix Gall' album, produced by Belvision studio.

The creators of Asterix, René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, were completely left out of the film's creation and only learned of its existence during a private screening.

Disappointed by the result of this first film, Goscinny and Uderzo demanded the destruction of two other adaptations already in preparation ('La Serpe d'or' and 'Le Combat des chefs') and from then on insisted on their personal involvement in the creation of the next film, 'Asterix and Cleopatra'.

Unlike in the comic, where characters have five fingers, in the animated film people have only four fingers – this was a common technique in animation used to save time for animators.

The film's budget was around 1.2 million dollars, which corresponds to roughly 12 million dollars in 2025.

It is the first film adaptation of Asterix's adventures, predating by several years the film adaptations of other major Franco-Belgian comic series – Lucky Luke came to the screen in 1971, and Tintin in 1972.