Initially entitled 27' 7.614", for a percussionist,[1] it is the last work in The Ten Thousand Things project, an unfinished collection of works written by Cage between 1953 and 1956, which also included a collection of short pieces for panflute player, a piece for tape recorder, left unfinished in 1953, a piece for voice, also unfinished in 1953, 34' 46.776", for piano, finished in 1954, 31' 57.9864", for piano, finished in 1954, and 26' 01.41499", for a bow player, written in 1955.

[2][3][4] The original plan was to write a series of compositions for instruments and electronic devices that could be played one by one or superimposed one on top of the other.

And the three produced the ten thousand things.The composition process was largely based on random operations, much in the way the 5000-year-old Chinese technique of I Ching is devised.

[3][2] The piece was written in 1956 and published by Henmar Press in 1960, exclusively distributed by Edition Peters.

The published score is a facsimile[5] where each system consists of four lines: M, for Metal; W, for Wood; S, for Skin; and A, for All others (which includes electronic devices, mechanical arrangements, radios, whistles, etc.).