The film is often confused with the theme of fantasy instead of tokusatsu, but the book Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia specifically identifies it in the genre of tokusatsu fantasy.[citation needed] It was also released as Samurai Pirate in the United States.
The Lost World of Sinbad was distributed theatrically in Japan by Toho on October 26, 1963.[2] The film was Toho's third highest-grossing film in Japan in 1963 and the 10th highest grossing domestically.[2]
The film was distributed by American International Pictures in the United States with an English-language version, where it was re-titled Samurai Pirate, and then again re-titled The Lost World of Sinbad.[1] The film was released as a double feature in the United States with War of the Zombies on March 17, 1965.[1][2] It was released in the United Kingdom in 1976.[1]