Are the release dates correct? (SPOILERS)

I just posted this on the board for "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" too, I'm really confused.

I just watched "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" (1976) and "Revenge of the Pink Panther" (1978) back-to-back, and clearly "Revenge" comes before "Strikes Again."

For one thing, Dreyfus is annihilated at the end of "Strikes Again" but he figures prominently in what's supposed to be the later release, "Revenge..."

Also, the actors all look older in "Strikes Again."

What gives? If the release dates shown on IMDb and on the DVDs I rented are correct, then the films must have been released in a different order than they were conceived and produced. I understand that this was the case with "A Shot in the Dark" and "The Pink Panther," but it also seems to be the case with these two titles.

Dreyfus is miraculously NOT dead, and is eligible to resume his post as Chief Inspector in the LATER movie, when he had gone all evil and disintegrated himself in the "earlier" one?

Anyone else find this peculiar?