[4] As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history.

The majority of the artistic spectacle was pre-recorded, with live segments performed adhering to social distancing to athletes, officials and a small VIP audience.

[2] The opening ceremony theme was the Tokyo 2020 motto United by Emotion, with the aim to "reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games.

"[1] The ceremony expressed responses to the pandemic by the athlete community, congratulate front-line workers, and included themes of lament, waiting and hope.

[18] Reports from Inside the Games and Kyodo News in January 2020 suggested that there would be a bigger focus on Japanese technology and its popular culture in this ceremony.

[19] According to reports from Shūkan Bunshun, the original program would include numerous references to J-pop and video games with the creative team led by MIKIKO before it was scaled back.

[20] The plan was to follow on with what was presented in the Rio 2016 closing ceremony, where then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as Mario in the handover segment.

In July 2021, the organizers agreed that the ceremony would be performed with no live audience, except for competing athletes if they choose to attend, a maximum of six officials for each country's delegation, and invited VIP guests.

[37] On 16 July, a week before the opening ceremony, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which was questioned for insight and good sense, announced their support for him to continue as a composer.

[45][46] The Opening and Closing Ceremonies was produced by Takayuki Hioki, having been advised by Marco Balich, who notably was part of the development team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

Balich said of the ceremony that "We will aspire to reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games, to express our gratitude and admiration for the efforts we all made together over the past year, and also to bring a sense of hope for the future.

[62][63] The first performance of the ceremony, designed "[showcase] Japan's forte in digital art and projection mapping technology,"[64] featured a digital graphics projection on the stadium floor, at the centre of which nurse and boxer Arisa Tsubata, who won a national championship only two years after taking the sport,[65] but was unable to participate as an athlete after being eliminated in the first round of the Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification tournament held prior to the pandemic and the games' postponement, jogged on a treadmill,[66][67] then was joined by performers on an exercise cycle, rowing machine, running in place, while performers abstract danced and coloured ball of light were projected,[66] "symbolising the athletes' plight in training during the pandemic for this event.

"[64] A dance presentation was performed with dancers wearing white outfits connected by red strings, meant to "portray the inner workings of the body and heart.

The actor Mirai Moriyama appeared up dressed in white and,[8] after striking a pose of mourning,[50] performed a butō dance in the middle of the stadium, while tenebrous and funereal music played.

[65] In addition, 19 tracks from popular Japanese video game series were also used during the duration of the two hour-long segment, these being:[69][84][85][86][87] The Parade of Nations finished with the projection of the Olympic motto, "Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together" in the middle of the stadium floor, between the athletes, which were organised into quadrants after they marched in.

[88] The following oath was delivered by 6 participants from the Tokyo delegation:[89] We promise to take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules and in the spirit of fair play, inclusion and equality.

[50] Then, mirroring the previous segment, 1,824 drones made a 3D rendition of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 emblem logo over the stadium and then the globe of Earth with its continents.

[64] Following this what Time Out Japan called an "emotional montage",[64] featuring a "half-live, half-recorded performance"[66] of "Imagine", composed by John Lennon, was sung by Angélique Kidjo (Africa), Alejandro Sanz (Europe), John Legend (Americas), and Keith Urban (Oceania), all of whom joined remotely via pre-recorded material; plus the Suginami Junior Chorus, who was live in the stadium.

[92] Bach in his 13-minute speech, highlighted that the Olympic movement showed the unifying power of sport, and expressed his gratitude to healthcare workers, the volunteers and described participating refugee athletes as an enrichment for society.

[103] Out of the 50 pictograms, 48 were acted out by the performers using camera angles and various props, some done live in the middle of the stadium, others in prerecorded segments additionally with hand gestures, finger tutting, studio lights, and karate gi.

A performance by kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizō XI, acting out an excerpt from Shibaraku, was accompanied by jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, playing a rendition of a tune from her album Spectrum.

It was carried by a trio of Japanese baseball greats (Shigeo Nagashima, Sadaharu Oh, and Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui), a doctor and a nurse, paralympian Wakako Tsuchida, and a group of students from Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures who were born shortly before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

[50] Even though it is customary for Olympic sponsors to send corporate representatives as well, companies such as Toyota, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, NEC, and Fujitsu, opted out of attending.

[133] Another scandal involving musicians was the dismissal of Senegalese-born Japanese percussionist, Latyr Sy, allegedly due to the organizers' reluctance in having an "African" in the ceremony.

"[136] When Emperor Naruhito began the opening declaration, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike remained seated, and only stood halfway through.

[138] The organizing committee later apologized for the wording at the end of Thomas Bach speech as he could not make an announcement in the stadium to encourage everyone to stand up before the Emperor spoke.

Japanese Entertainment writer Elizabeth Matsumoto was confused by some elements of the ceremony such as the Matsuri segment, questioning why to focus on carpentry and if the tap dancing was necessary.

[143] Others felt that the ceremony showed an unmistakably contemporary and diverse view of Japan, finishing with Osaka lighting the cauldron, who is biracial and has opened up about her mental health.

[148][149] Despite wide opposition to the Olympics by residents, the opening ceremony was seen in Japan by at least 73.27 million viewers nationwide, with NHK peaking at a 61% audience share during a segment featuring Miki Maya and at the start of the parade of nations.

MBC CEO Park Sung-jae apologized for the imagery, stating that the network had "damaged the Olympic values of friendship, solidarity and harmony" with the images, which had been intended to help viewers identify the countries.