Short answers, pulled from the story.
Apocalypse Now was produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and released on the 15th of August 1979, by United Artists. It premiered as an unfinished work in progress at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival on the 19th of May 1979.
Apocalypse Now is loosely inspired by Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella Heart of Darkness, which is set in the Congo Free State during the 19th century. The screenplay, written by Coppola and John Milius, transplants the story to the Vietnam War, with the river journey, the character of Kurtz, and his dying words "The horror! The horror!" taken directly from Conrad.
The production budget more than doubled during filming, ultimately reaching over $25 million, with total costs including marketing reaching $45 million. The film grossed over $80 million in the United States and Canada and $150 million worldwide.
Apocalypse Now won the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, sharing the prize with Volker Schlondorff's The Tin Drum. At the 52nd Academy Awards it was nominated for eight awards, winning Best Cinematography for Vittorio Storaro and Best Sound for Walter Murch, Mark Berger, Richard Beggs, and Nat Boxer.
Principal photography lasted 238 days, far beyond the planned five-month shoot that began the 20th of March 1976. Typhoon Olga destroyed 40-80% of the sets in May 1976; Martin Sheen suffered a near-fatal heart attack on the 5th of March 1977; Marlon Brando arrived overweight and unprepared; and Coppola repeatedly revised the ending, which he admitted he did not have when photography began.
The original theatrical cut, released the 15th of August 1979, ran 147 minutes without credits. Apocalypse Now Redux, released in 2001, restored 49 minutes of cut footage and runs approximately three hours and 22 minutes. Apocalypse Now Final Cut, released in 2019 for the film's 40th anniversary, is Coppola's preferred version and runs three hours and three minutes; it was the first version restored from the original camera negative at 4K.