The animation director, who was Yumi Satou, said that he began making the anime because he liked to animate original manga. The movie was approved in the beginning of 2011. The movie's producer (Shuko Yokoyama) said that the movie was supposed to be an original video animation. If it was made as an original video animation, it would not be released in theatres. But another movie, "Natsume's Book of Friends" was very popular and it allowed them to make a movie. This was because the same people that made "Hotarubi no Mori e" also made "Natsume's Book of Friends". The movie was made by the studio Brain's Base. It was directed by Takahiro Omori and it starred Japanese voice actors Ayane Sakura as Hotaru and Kōki Uchiyama as Gin. Satou and Yokoyama worked with each other a lot before this. Not that many people worked on the movie. This is because the movie was very short. The movie was made in Japan instead of other countries. Anime are usually made in different countries.