Writer/director Jules Dassin portrayed Cesar only because the actor that was hired encountered contract problems just prior to filming.

The argot French slang word, "Rififi" is defined loosely as trouble/violent conflict/a brutal show of force, usually in reference to chest puffing and macho tough guy posturing by thugs and criminal element of Paris.

Dassin also claims that he was brought in on the project because of his situation (the Hollywood blacklist). The novel's characters were all North Africans and at the time France was experiencing much trouble with Algeria. This was seen as possibly inflammatory so the producers wanted an American director to soften it by making them Americans instead. Dassin asked if they'd considered simply making them Frenchmen. They had not.

The film was made on an extremely small budget (so small that Dassin claims people do not believe him when he tells them the amount), which is why so many desperate (himself included) or inexperienced people were hired for the production. The director claims that he was so broke at the Cannes film festival in 1955 (where he won the Best Director prize for the film) that, while watching one of the producers play the casinos, he had to ask for some money to bet. He then asked on what date had they began filming Rififi? When informed of the date (the 18th), Dassin put all his money on 18 and won. He says that his family managed to live off this money for a while.

The argot slang that the novel was written in was incomprehensible to writer/director Jules Dassin, so much so that he had to have the producer who suggested it, read it to him. The producer initially refused because he had been courting a woman for some time and had "plans" that night. Dassin told him that he'd lost his woman and that he had to come over and read it to him (which he did). When he finally understood the story he claims that he was "shocked" by its content (the story involves necrophilia, amongst other things) and was prepared to tell Henri Bérard that he didn't want to do the film. What changed his mind was his blacklist-induced poverty. He then cut Auguste Le Breton's novel down to a story of a heist (which was only a small element of the actual story). Le Breton was infuriated and came to Dassin and asked, "Where is my book?". Dassin explained the situation to him, but Le Breton ignored him and simply repeated "Where is my book?" until eventually drawing a pistol and placing it on the table as a threat. Dassin claims that the threat of violence over such a matter and the appearance of Le Breton was so ridiculous that he simply broke out with laughter. Le Breton then laughed and the two got along fine, despite the disagreement.