Swiss officials "urgently" alerted U.S. authorities that fugitive film director Roman Polanski would be in Zurich, according to email correspondence made public by the Los Angeles district attorney's office.

According to the email records, first reported by the Associated Press and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Swiss authorities became aware of Mr. Polanski's planned visit to Zurich because of the publicity around the film festival. The Swiss contacted officials at the U.S. Department of Justice to make them aware of...