Storm Over the Pacific was released in 1961 in the United States in a dubbed and abridged 98 minute version produced by Hugo Grimaldi as I Bombed Pearl Harbor.

Some special effects scenes were later incorporated as stock footage in the 1976 film Midway (which also stars Toshirō Mifune).In 1941, Lt. Koji Kitami (Yosuke Natsuki) is a young Japanese bombardier, stationed aboard the Hiryu.

When diplomatic negotiations in Washington fail, the task force commander, Adm. Tamon Yamaguchi (Toshiro Mifune) receives orders to attack Pearl Harbor.

His faith in his leaders and his country remains strong through the successful campaigns of the early war, but is severely shaken by the disastrous events during the Battle of Midway, learning that reports back to the homeland are lies.

Film historian Stephen Pendo in Aviation in the Cinema (1985) noted Storm Over the Pacific heavily utilized models to create realistic battle scenes.

Film historians Jack Hardwick and Ed Schnepf, however, dismissed the English version, I Bombed Pearl Harbor (1961) as poorly dubbed and with the predominance of "miniatures", as a pallid rival to Tora!