B747-400 WAS DISPATCHED AND DEPARTED WITH ILLEGAL DISPATCH RELEASE. RELEASE WAS ISSUED THE PREVIOUS DAY; THE FLT WAS DELAYED; AND THE NEW RELEASE WAS NEVER SENT TO THE FLT CREW.

Narrative

FLT DEPARTED ZZZZ WITH NO VALID FLT RELEASE. PRIOR TO RELEASE ZZZZ STATION REQUESTED A FUEL LOAD FOR THE FLT. I WAS WAITING FOR CONTACT FROM CREW TO GIVE THE 'THUMBS UP' ON THE MAINT STATUS OF THE ACFT AS THEY WERE RUNNING IT PRIOR TO DEP. CAPT DID SEND AN ACARS THAT STATED ALL OK AS THEY WERE TAXIING BACK TO GATE TO LOAD PAX. AT THAT TIME I HAD PLANNED TO SEND RELEASE TO ZZZZ. I DIDN'T GET THAT DONE AS I WAS WORKING WITH OTHER FLT ISSUES. I FORGOT TO ACTUALLY SEND THE RELEASE. FLT CONTACTED ME ONCE AIRBORNE REGARDING A DISCREPANCY IN THEIR HOWGOZIT AND THE RELEASE THEY HAD. AFTER A BRIEF DISCUSSION I REALIZED THEY HAD THE RELEASE THAT WAS SENT TO THEM 20 HRS PRIOR (FLT WAS OPERATING 24 HRS LATE). ZZZZ FILED AIRWAYS WITH OLD RELEASE. THE FLT THE MONITORING RECORD SHOWED RELEASE 2 AND THE RTE I PLANNED OVER RUSSIA. CREW WAS OPERATING ON OLD RELEASE OVER POLAR RTE. WE THEN ASCERTAINED THE FUEL ON BOARD AND ONCE THE RTE WAS LOADING INTO FLT PLANNING SYS; WE DETERMINED THAT WE COULD OPERATE TO PLANNED DEST WITH ALL WX; FUEL; AND ALTERNATES PLANNED. FUEL TEMP WAS ANALYZED AND FOUND TO BE WITHIN LIMITS. RTE WAS THEN VERIFIED WITH RUSSIA ATC AND ALL DOWNLINE ATC FIR'S TO ASSURE ALL WERE ON SAME PAGE WITH OUR NEW PLAN. I DID A RE-ANALYSIS OF THE FLT AND PLANNED THE BAL OF THE FLT USING B343 RESERVES AND ADDED AN ALTERNATE.