According to character designer Tatsuro Iwamoto, Dahlia Hawthorne was the most difficult character in the game for him to design as the instructions given to him appeared to be contradictory:


To help concentrate on this task, he asked Capcom to set up a dedicated design office for him, where he spent the next two to three months creating Dahlia's final character design among others. He felt that his lack of an efficient workflow and workspace was a mark of immaturity. Producer Atsushi Inaba noted that Iwamoto "can draw old men all day, but he's not good at girl characters."