The trains are based on the Alstom Metropolis series, with variants in use by metro systems in various foreign cities such as Barcelona, Budapest, Santiago, and Shanghai.

The six cars were then assembled into a complete metro train on a straight section of track.

Although these trainsets were expected to be ready for regular service in December 2012 after a few months of testing, technical and software issues delayed this until 26 June 2013.

Deliveries of the rest of the series, built at Alstom's facility in Katowice, Poland, from the third quarter of 2012, were significantly delayed and only began in May 2013.

On February 13, 2013, Alstom announced the order of five additional trainsets, bringing the total to 28, with 25 sets allocated for service.

A temporary fix for the Train-TV issue involved using the analog system from the older M1/M2/M3 train cars in the M5, while Alstom worked on a permanent solution.

Unlike the previous rolling stock, most of the seats are placed longitudinally, creating more standing space.

The doors of the Amsterdam version of the Metropolis series are made extra tall to accommodate the taller average height of people in the Netherlands.

The color scheme of the new trainsets is inspired by the original design of the LHB rolling stock: silver-gray with red doors.