The original Japanese footage and the added American footage were all shot in standard academy (1.37:1). However, the U.S. distributor indicated that the film was to be projected in spherical widescreen. The cast and production credits that ran following the final fade-out were produced in hard-matted widescreen. Those theaters that had not installed wide screens could still run the release prints, which were full frame, but the cast and production credits would appear with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. When the television version was being prepared, the distributor avoided the lab cost of having the cast and production credit footage enlarged and re-framed to fill the television screen (as required by then current Federal Communicatins Commission FCC regulations) by simply removing this footage. At the fade-out, there is an abrupt cut to "The End." The loss of this footage, which ran approximately 90 seconds, reduced the running time to just under 79 minutes. The footage is believed to have been removed from the original master negative so that all reduction elements, and all elements used to produce the U.S. home video releases, were missing all cast and production credits. The elements for this footage were assumed to be lost, but this footage still exists in the surviving 35mm theatrical release prints. In Japan, however, the film was released in anamor

In the American version, Godzilla's size was increased from 150 feet to nearly 400 feet because of the disparity between Japanese buildings (built short to meet earthquake codes) and American skyscrapers. It was felt that Godzilla's original size would be lost among the tall buildings of New York, the city most often compared to Tokyo.

It was felt that an experienced editor was needed to direct this American version in order to maintain the continuity and make it appear that Raymond Burr was part of the original production, which was actually shot two years earlier as Godzilla. Terry O. Morse was selected because he had almost 30 years experience as an editor, as well as experience as a director of low-budget films.

Godzilla/Gojira was the only film role for Toyoaki Suzuki, who played Shinkichi. However, his photo from Godzilla appeared in Godzilla vs. Destroyah.

It is often said that "Since his contract said that he could only work for one day on the film, Raymond Burr was kept at the studio for 24 hours to shoot all of his scenes."; but, this is an urban myth with absolutely no evidence to support it. Between set construction and outside shots it took 6 days to shoot.