It features an ensemble cast led by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, with Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight and Val Kilmer in supporting roles.

Mann wrote the original script for Heat in 1979, basing it on Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson's pursuit of criminal Neil McCauley, after whom De Niro's character is named.

He and his crew—right-hand man Chris Shiherlis, enforcer Michael Cheritto, driver Gilbert Trejo and newly hired hand Waingro—rob $1.6 million in bearer bonds from an armored car.

McCauley's fence Nate suggests that he sell the stolen bonds to their original owner, money launderer Roger Van Zant.

An LAPD informant connects Cheritto to the robbery, and Hanna's team begins monitoring him, identifying the rest of the crew and their next target, a precious metals depository.

They discuss their dedication to their respective jobs and the limitations of their personal lives; Hanna describes his failing marriage, and McCauley confides that he is similarly isolated.

Featured as members of the LAPD are Paul Herman as Sergeant Heinz, Cindy Katz as forensics investigator Rachel, and Dan Martin as Detective Harry Dieter.

[11] Heat is based on the true story of Neil McCauley, a calculating criminal and ex-Alcatraz inmate who was tracked down by Detective Chuck Adamson in 1964.

[14] Pacino's character is largely based on Detective Chuck Adamson, who began keeping tabs on McCauley's crew, knowing that he had begun committing crimes again.

[13] On March 25, 1964, McCauley and members of his regular crew followed an armored car that delivered money to a National Tea grocery store at 4720 S. Cicero Avenue, Chicago.

[13][14] McCauley's crew was unaware that Adamson and eight other detectives had blocked off all potential exits; the getaway car turned down an alley, and the robbers saw the blockade and realized that they were trapped.

Russell Bredon (or Breaden) and Michael Parille were slain in an alley while Miklos Polesti (on whom Chris Shiherlis is loosely based)[13] shot his way out and escaped.

Mann declined and the show was canceled and the pilot aired on August 27, 1989, as a television film entitled L.A. Takedown,[19] which was eventually released on VHS and DVD in Europe.

[21] On April 5, 1994, Mann was reported to have abandoned his earlier plan to shoot a biopic of James Dean in favor of directing Heat, producing it with Art Linson.

[23] Mann assigned Janice Polley, a former collaborator on The Last of the Mohicans, as the film's location manager, along with Lori Balton, who primarily handled scouting duties.

[19] To make the long shootout more realistic, they hired British ex-Special Air Service sergeant Andy McNab as a technical weapons trainer and adviser.

[26] Mann took Kilmer, Sizemore and De Niro to Folsom State Prison to interview actual career criminals to prepare for their roles.

Mann used multiple cameras to capture the scene from different angles, focusing on close-ups to highlight the tension and subtleties of each actor's performance.

[30][29] On December 19, 1995, Warner Bros. Records released a soundtrack album on cassette and CD to accompany the film, titled Heat: Music from the Motion Picture.

It contains a 29-minute selection of the film score composed by Elliot Goldenthal, as well as songs by other artists, such as U2 and Brian Eno (collaborating as Passengers), Terje Rypdal, Moby and Lisa Gerrard.

Heat uses an abridged instrumental rendition of the Joy Division song "New Dawn Fades" by Moby, which is also featured in the same form on the soundtrack album.

[40] A two-disc special-edition DVD was released by Warner Home Video on February 22, 2005, featuring an audio commentary by Michael Mann, deleted scenes and numerous documentaries detailing the film's production.

[45] A "Director's Definitive Edition" blu-ray was released on May 9, 2017, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, who acquired the distribution rights to the film through their part-ownership of Regency back in 2015.

Sourced from a 4K remaster of the film supervised by Mann, the two-disc set contains all the extras from the 2009 Blu-ray, with two filmmakers panels from 2015 and 2016, one of which was moderated by Christopher Nolan.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Though Al Pacino and Robert De Niro share but a handful of screen minutes together, Heat is an engrossing crime drama that draws compelling performances from its stars – and confirms Michael Mann's mastery of the genre.

He described Mann's script as "uncommonly literate", with a psychological insight into the symbiotic relationship between police and criminals, and the fractured intimacy between the male and female characters: "It's not just an action picture.

"[51] Simon Cote of The Austin Chronicle called the film "one of the most intelligent crime-thrillers to come along in years", and said Pacino and De Niro's scenes together were "poignant and gripping.

"[52] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called the film a "sleek, accomplished piece of work, meticulously controlled and completely involving.

"[53] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Stunningly made and incisively acted by a large and terrific cast, Michael Mann's ambitious study of the relativity of good and evil stands apart from other films of its type by virtue of its extraordinarily rich characterizations and its thoughtful, deeply melancholy take on modern life.

[59] The media described later robberies as resembling scenes from Heat, including armored car robberies in South Africa,[60] Colombia,[61] Denmark, and Norway[62] and the 1997 North Hollywood shootout, in which Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu robbed the North Hollywood branch of the Bank of America and, similarly to the film, were confronted by the LAPD as they left the bank.