"After Burner" was designed by Yu Suzuki of Sega AM2, with assistance by programmer Satoshi Mifune and composer Hiroshi “Hiro” Kawaguchi. Development of the game begin in early December 1986 shortly after work on "Out Run" was completed, with much of the development team having worked on "Out Run". "After Burner" was intended as Sega's first "true blockbuster" video game; as such, the project was kept as a closely guarded secret within the company during the entirety of its development cycle. When the game was in its initial concept stages, Sega had adopted a flextime work system, allowing development of games to be done outside the company; "After Burner" was one of the first games to be produced under this new system, with development taking place in a building named "Studio 128".