Jean-Luc Godard wrote the final screenplay for Breathless 1960 film based on a treatment by François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol. The script followed Truffaut's original ideas closely except for one major change to the ending.
A fully restored version of Breathless 1960 film was released in May 2010 coinciding with the film's fiftieth anniversary in the United States. The original production began filming in June 1959 when Jean Seberg agreed to appear for fifteen thousand dollars.
Cinematographer Raoul Coutard used an Eclair Cameflex model camera that had sprocket holes different from standard film formats. He utilized Ilford HP5 film stock designed for still cameras rather than motion pictures spliced into one-hundred-twenty-meter rolls.
The word dégueulasse appears throughout Breathless 1960 film meaning disgusting in reference to things like Michel's request for a loan. It serves as a synonym for bitch or heel implying nausea and the urge to vomit while highlighting themes of brutality in relationships.
Richard Brody noted the film opened at a chain of four commercial theaters selling two hundred fifty-nine thousand tickets in four weeks. The eventual profit was substantial according to his account despite early criticism calling it the worst picture of the year.