Igor Savchenko was born in Vinnitsa, Ukraine.

He studied at the Leningrad Institute of Performing Arts (1926-1929).

He began his career as a theater actor in 1921. He directed in the working youth theaters in Baku and Moscow. He worked at the Baku Film Studio (1929-1932), in Moscow (1932-1935). From 1933 he was a director at Mezhrabpomfilm, from 1938 he was a director at the Baku Film Studio. He worked as a director at the Ashgabat Film Studio (1941-1945), artistic director at the Soyuzdetfilm Film Studio, and director at the Mosfilm Film Studio.

In the last years of his life he taught at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (1945-1950).

Honored Artist of Russia (1944), laureate of the USSR State Prizes (1942, 1949, 1952), Igor Savchenko died in Moscow in 1950.