Director Jean-Jacques Annaud told Umberto Eco he was convinced the novel was written for only one person to direct: himself, drawn in by his lifelong fascination with medieval churches and his familiarity with Latin and Greek.

Annaud spent four years preparing the film, traveling across the United States and Europe to find a multi-ethnic cast with interesting and distinctive faces.

Annaud initially resisted casting Sean Connery as William, fearing the character would be overwhelmed by 007's persona, but changed his mind after failing to find another actor he liked and being won over by Connery's reading; Eco was reportedly dismayed by the choice, and Columbia Pictures pulled out due to Connery's career slump at the time.

Christian Slater was cast after a large-scale audition of teenage boys; his mother, casting director Mary Jo Slater, also consulted on the film.

Although U.S. casting agencies proposed only white actors, Annaud insisted on casting a black monk for the translator Venantius, reasoning that Moors were considered intellectuals in medieval times; the role went to Swiss actor and former fashion model Urs Althaus, who had worked for brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein, and Armani.

For the wordless seduction scene between the Girl and Adso, Annaud let Valentina Vargas lead the scene without direction and deliberately kept Christian Slater unaware of what she would do, aiming for a more authentic reaction.

The exterior and some interiors of the monastery were built as a replica set on a hilltop outside Rome, making it the largest exterior set built in Europe since Cleopatra (1963), while many interior scenes were filmed at the real Eberbach Abbey in Germany.

Most props, including the period illuminated manuscripts seen in the film, were specially produced for the production.

In 2024, a restored 4K version of the film from the original negative was released in France and was newly dubbed into the Breton language for broadcast on the Breton channel Brezhoweb.

The film performed poorly in the United States, grossing only $7.2 million across 176 theaters, but was very successful in Germany with a $25 million gross and popular elsewhere in Europe; Sean Connery later recalled the film grossed over $60 million worldwide.

In 2011, Umberto Eco gave a mixed assessment of the adaptation, comparing his novel to a club sandwich and saying the film could only choose 'the lettuce or the cheese,' eliminating the theological and political dimensions, while still calling it 'a nice movie.'