George Lucas conceived the idea in 1973 after finishing American Graffiti, inspired by an old movie poster and by early 20th-century serial films like Buck Rogers and Spy Smasher; he originally named the hero Indiana Smith after his own Alaskan Malamute dog.

Lucas developed the story with Philip Kaufman in 1975, who suggested the Ark of the Covenant as the film's goal and removed Lucas's original vision of the hero as a womanizing nightclub patron; Lucas had wanted Kaufman to direct but he was unavailable.

Lucas and Spielberg pitched the project to each other on a Hawaiian beach in 1977 while avoiding news about the release of Star Wars, with Spielberg initially wanting to direct a James Bond film instead.

Tom Selleck was originally cast as Indiana Jones but had to drop out just weeks before filming because CBS refused to release him early from his contract for Magnum, P.I.; Harrison Ford was cast shortly after, having been considered from the start but passed over for already being famous from Star Wars.

Danny DeVito was approached to play Sallah but could not participate due to scheduling conflicts with his sitcom Taxi and salary demands from his agent.

Klaus Kinski was offered the role of Toht but turned it down to appear in the horror film Venom (1981) because it paid more.

During filming in Tunisia, temperatures often exceeded 130°F (54°C) and over 150 crew members fell ill with amoebic dysentery from local food; Spielberg avoided illness by eating food and water brought from England.

Stanley Kubrick's daughter Vivian called the RSPCA to complain about the treatment of snakes used in the Well of Souls scene, forcing production to pause while safeguards were added.

The famous boulder was originally designed to be 65 feet wide but was reduced to 22 feet due to practical constraints, and Harrison Ford performed the boulder stunt himself ten times for different camera angles.

Belloq's death effect used a plaster skull filled with blood bags and debris blown up with explosives and an air cannon, and was so extreme that the MPAA initially gave the film an R rating before flames were added to obscure the effect.

During a truck chase stunt, a vehicle rolled over Harrison Ford's foot toward his knee, and it took 40 crew members to move it off him; he avoided serious injury thanks to the soft tire from the Tunisian heat and sandy ground.

John Williams composed the film's iconic theme, 'The Raiders March,' by combining two separate pieces he had written and played for Spielberg, who liked both so much he asked to use them together as the main theme and bridge.

Sound designer Ben Burtt created the snake-slithering sound by mixing recordings of hands moving through cheese casserole and wet sponges dragged across grip tape, while the rolling boulder sound was actually a Honda Civic driving down a gravel hill.