Seth Deitch, who provided the voice of four-year-old Munro, was only three-years-old when he recorded his lines.
Jules Feiffer wrote the story of "Munro", inspired by the negative experiences of his own military service. In his own words: "And people connected to their own situations with authority in or out of the Army when no one listens, no one believes you. They know, you don't, and they may even start to convince you, as they do Munro, that they're right and you're wrong."
Jules Feiffer intended the story as both a satire on abuse by authority figures and on the ignorance of authority.
This was the first time Gene Deitch directed a film for Rembrandt Films. In 1959, Deitch relocated to Prague, Czechoslovakia to work on the film. It was intended to be a temporary relocation, but Deitch fell in love and married local animator Zdenka Deitchová. He consequently settled permanently in Prague, where he spend the rest of his life.
The film was produced by Rembrandt Films, established by American expatriates in Czechoslovakia. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, becoming the first short produced outside the United States to win an Academy Award.