Hayao Miyazaki created Spirited Away for ten-year-old girls after finding that the shōjo magazines they read focused mainly on crushes and romance. He wanted a heroine they could admire, an ordinary girl who draws on strength already inside her rather than growing into a new person. The story grew out of a bathhouse inspired by one in his hometown and by the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum. Production began in February 2000 on a budget of about 15 million dollars, and the team used computer animation carefully while keeping most characters hand-drawn. Miyazaki struggled to cut the film from a plot that would have run over three hours.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.