Daigo Fukuryū Maru
Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka flew to Jakarta to renegotiate with the Indonesian government but was unsuccessful and on the flight back to Japan, conceived the idea for a giant monster film inspired by the 1953 film "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" and the "Daigo Fukuryū Maru" incident that happened in March 1954. The film's opening sequence is a direct reference to the incident. Tanaka felt the film had potential due to nuclear fears generating news and monster films becoming popular, due to the financial success of "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" and the 1952 re-release of "King Kong", the latter of which earned more money than previous releases.