[3] In December 1974, a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon purchased the film rights from APJ, with director Alejandro Jodorowsky set to direct.

[3] Along with French producer Michel Seydoux, Jodorowsky proceeded to approach, among others, Virgin Records and prog rock groups Tangerine Dream, Gong and Mike Oldfield before settling on Pink Floyd and Magma to record the soundtrack; artists H. R. Giger, Chris Foss and Jean Giraud for set and character design; Dan O'Bannon for special effects; and Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, David Carradine, Mick Jagger, Udo Kier, Amanda Lear and others for the cast.

In January 2023, Pavich published an essay in The New York Times about Jodorowsky's Dune that discussed the issues of artificial intelligence art illustrations.

[6] French artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud worked with Jodorowsky to create a storyboard composed of 3,000 drawings that depicted the entire film.

Jodorowsky accepted, but then reduced the Emperor’s scenes so that Dalí would be needed for no more than one hour with the rest of his lines spoken by a robotic lookalike.

[7] Dalí accepted on condition that the plastic lookalike was donated to his museum, and that his throne was to be a toilet made up of two intersected dolphins.

The documentary concludes that Jodorowsky's efforts did not go to waste, and that he and Giraud recycled much of their concepts for The Incal, a series of graphic novels that began publishing in 1980.

[12] Sony Pictures Classics acquired the North American distribution rights to the film in July 2013,[13] and later announced a theatrical release date of March 7, 2014.