Producer Galliano Juso recalled that the idea for the film came about while he and director Bruno Corbucci were making another film, Il trafficone, in Naples, when Juso had his wallet stolen with money meant for the crew, inspiring a story about an 'anti-snatch' squad.

Juso first considered actor Luc Merenda for the lead role but felt he wasn't right for the part, ultimately choosing Tomas Milian instead, which launched the Nico Giraldi series.

This was the first film in which Tomas Milian portrayed Marshal Nico Giraldi, nicknamed 'Il Pirata' (The Pirate), a character he would go on to play in eleven films between 1976 and 1984.

Tomas Milian revealed in interviews that his inspiration for developing the Nico Giraldi character (as well as the later 'er Monnezza' character) was his stuntman Quinto Gambi, whom he met at the Piper discotheque in Rome in 1966 and studied closely as they became close friends.

In this first film, Nico Giraldi speaks proper Italian and is portrayed as a cop inspired by the exploits of Serpico, going so far as to keep a poster of the Al Pacino film in his home.

Nico Giraldi and Milian's later character 'er Monnezza' are often confused since they share the same origin, but in this first installment Giraldi is still far from the working-class persona he would later become.

On 25 March 2024, a plaque was inaugurated in the Vigne Nuove neighborhood of Rome, on Via Giovanni Conti, marking the location where some scenes of the film were shot.

The film grossed a total of 2,013,807,160 Italian lire, making it the 36th highest-grossing film in Italy during the 1975-1976 cinema season and, according to critic Roberto Curti, one of the most profitable domestic productions of that year.