Kim Yong-hwa, director of box-office hits 200 Pounds Beauty (2006) and Take Off (2009), decided to adapt Huh Young-man's 28-year-old comic after seeing the YouTube video of Christian the lion, which demonstrated that humans are capable of taming animals.

For four years, a team of more than 500 animators and CG professionals led by visual effects director Jeong Seong-jin[9] developed motion capture technology, facial motion capture technology and a digital fur production program to make the gorilla as realistic as possible, followed by another year of editing.

[10][11][12] With consultant Kim Tae-yong of Rhythm and Hues Studios (famous for its work on Life of Pi), the production team established a new company Dexter Studios (with 180 employees), which created the software Zelos System to process large amounts of data efficiently so that the film cost 10 percent of the budget demanded by most Hollywood movies.

[13] It also received ₩30 million from the International Co-Production Incentive Support 2013, a project run by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC),[14] and director Kim spent ₩3 billion from his own pocket.

[16] Due to competition with other summer blockbusters such as The Wolverine, Snowpiercer and The Terror Live, Mr. Go had a disappointing box-office performance on its opening weekend in South Korea, drawing 540,411 moviegoers at 788 screens.