The film is split into five segments, "Overture", "Harmony", "Counterpoint", "Discord" and "Finale," as the television network which funded the film required that it could be shown as a miniseries of five three-minute episodes.
The filmmakers found the first several shots of the film to be too dark upon inspection but could not afford to shoot them again; the action of D'Oyly Carte snapping his fingers was added to explain the sudden change in lighting at about 1:52.