This movie was shelved until director Hideaki Anno finished Shin Godzilla (2016). After working on Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012) Anno fell into another bout of depression and initially rejected the offer to direct Godzilla. However, his long time friend Shinji Higuchi convinced him to join the project and despite the difficulty working for Toho, Anno credited working on Godzilla as revitalizing him. After the film was finished, Anno apologized to the fans for the delay and recommenced production on this film.
In order to create the scene in the film where the characters fight while free-falling through the sky, the staff went skydiving.
Originally slated for a 2008 release.
Clocking in at 154 minutes, this the second longest film in the franchise, behind Revival of Evangelion (1998) and the longest of the Rebuild series.