"Pilotwings 64" was co-developed by the Texas-based graphics company Paradigm Simulation and Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD) and Integrated Research and Development (IRD) divisions. Due to Paradigm's experience with Silicon Graphics workstations, Nintendo contacted the American company in 1994 concerning it becoming one of the Nintendo 64's "Dream Team" of first developers. Paradigm worked directly with a team at Silicon Graphics and spent nine months developing a technology base for "Pilotwings 64" and Paradigm's other Nintendo 64 releases. Development on "Pilotwings 64" began in earnest during June 1995, with Nintendo working on the game design and Paradigm working on the technical production. Nintendo's Genyo Takeda and Makoto Wada acted as Paradigm's primary technical and design contacts individually. Wada, the game's director, was also involved in design aspects such as modeling and animation. Shigeru Miyamoto, the producer of "Pilotwings" for the SNES, reprised his role for "Pilotwings 64" and oversaw the project from Japan. Miyamoto's involvement was more removed than with the SNES game due to his simultaneous work on the platformer "Super Mario 64".