McCaw, who has been voted world player of the year three times, will be the first All Black to reach the milestone when the World Cup hosts take on the French in a pivotal Pool A encounter at Eden Park.
"He has been the best flanker in the world for 10 years now," Dusautoir told reporters at the French team hotel on Friday. "I think he has one year less experience than me yet I have only half the caps.
"So I can just respect this guy because he leads the All Blacks really well and he's still a great player.
"I'm sad because we are going to waste his party tomorrow."
Dusautoir scored his country's opening try and made 38 tackles when they knocked the All Blacks out of the quarterfinals of the 2007 World Cup.
That was one of two stunning reverses in the knockout stages of rugby's showpiece event, the other came in 1999, that have made the New Zealanders so wary of France.
Dusautoir said the Cardiff match in 2007 was one of the toughest he had ever played in and expected a similar standard on Saturday at a stadium where the All Blacks have not lost since the French triumphed in 1994.
"I've never played a game like this again but it was physical and tough mentally because it was a quarter-final at a World Cup," the 29-year-old said.
"I'm sure that tomorrow is going to a similar game and I hope we can win again."
Dusautoir also captained France when they beat a weakened All Blacks team in Dunedin in 2009, experiences which coach Marc Lievremont said would hold his players in good stead on Saturday.
"It probably does help the French team given that there are a few members of this team that have beaten the All Blacks before," he said. "So they know it is possible to do it. But for the New Zealand team, it probably does not mean so much."
With the losers of Saturday's match likely to end up in the weaker half of the draw for the knockout stages, the French have been accused of putting out a weakened side for the highly anticipated match.
Lievremont, who has handed a first start at flyhalf to Morgan Parra, unsurprisingly dismissed the allegation.
"Notwithstanding some of the reports seen in the press, the team really wants to do well in this particular game," he said. "It is a really important game for us to win."
