A biphenyltetracarboxylic acid dianhydride, wherein a solution obtained by dissolving the dianhydride at a concentration of 0.05 g/ml in a 2N NaOH aqueous solution has a transmittance of light with a wavelength of 400 nm of at least 98%, obtained by heating and sublimation purification of biphenyltetracarboxylic acid,
- wherein the heating is carried out at a pressure of from 1×102 Pa to 1.1×105 Pa to a maximum temperature in a range of from 210° C. to 250° C. in such a manner that a rate of temperature increase is higher than 50° C./hr for a period of at least ¼ of the time for a temperature rise from 60° C. to 210° C., and the temperature is maintained to be from 150° C. to 250° C. for from 0.5 to 10 hours.