When writing the screenplay, François Truffaut drew inspiration from his own childhood memories, his escapes, his detention at the observation center for juvenile delinquents in Villejuif, and from the character of his friend at the time, Robert Lachenay.

After the film's release, Truffaut denied that it was autobiographical, but later continued to level accusations about the horrors of his life on Rue de Navarin between 1943 and 1948.

The film created a major crisis in his family; Truffaut's adoptive father Roland Truffaut and his mother Janine de Monferrand were deeply hurt and demanded an explanation. In 1981, after his mother's death, Truffaut asked Pierre Tchernia not to bring up the film's autobiographical nature on television in order to protect his father.

The film was shot entirely on real locations, with filming beginning on November 10, 1958 and ending on January 5, 1959.

The scene in which Antoine returns the typewriter was shot in the building on Rue Hamelin where Truffaut's father-in-law Ignace Morgenstern's company was located.

The observation center scenes were shot at Moulin d'Andé near Saint-Pierre-du-Vauvray, and the final beach scene was shot at Villers-sur-Mer.

The film was entirely post-synchronized (sound recorded after) except for the scene with the psychologist.

François Truffaut appears briefly as an extra in the scene where Antoine rides the Rotor.

According to Jean-Pierre Mocky, the famous tracking shot at the end of the film in which Antoine Doinel runs away was inspired by Rashōmon by Akira Kurosawa, which Truffaut had watched with Claude Chabrol.

The film was shown with great success at the Cannes Film Festival on May 4, 1959, and Truffaut won the Best Director award at the festival.

The film was a major public success from its first release in France, reaching a total of 4,166,149 viewers in cinemas.