The film was the directorial debut of , an animator who famously walked out of Disney in 1979 with 14 other artists. They felt Disney had lost its way, abandoning the lush, detailed "ink and paint" styles of classics like Pinocchio for cheaper, "scratchy" Xerox methods.
Working with half the budget and time of a typical Disney feature, Bluth’s team essentially lived in their studio to create a film that looked like it belonged to the Golden Age. They used forgotten techniques like to make the rats’ technology and Nicodemus’s amulet literally glow on screen. Science vs. Magic: The Story The Secret of NIMH
Courage in the Shadows: Why The Secret of NIMH Still Haunts Us The film was the directorial debut of ,