The much imitated heist sequence is over 32 minutes long and contains not a single line of dialogue or music. The production crew and composer Georges Auric thought it would be a disaster to have such a long sequence sans dialogue. Auric insisted that he allow him to write a grand piece of music for the scene and he eventually did on his own. Later Dassin played the part for Auric twice, once with the score, once without. Auric turned to him and admitted, "Without the music".
Mexican authorities pulled the movie from theaters after multiple burglaries were committed employing methods similar to those shown.
The film was made on an extremely small budget (so small that Jules 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 jewels stolen during the heist were genuine ones loaned by jeweler Jean Dusausoy, on condition they would be protected by the police.
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.
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