After he finished shooting his 1946 film The Stranger, Welles decided to make a musical out of one of his favorite childhood books, Around the World in Eighty Days.

He raised money from Mike Todd, producer William Goetz, and Alexander Korda, who held the title's European rights.

[3] It was produced and directed by Welles with circus sequences created by Barbette, choreography by Nelson Barclift, costumes by Alvin Colt, set design by Robert Davison, and lighting by Peggy Clark.

[4]: 111 "Some of the more spectacular scenes included a giant eagle snatching an actor from the stage, an authentic Japanese circus troupe, a live elephant, a train crossing the rocky mountains, and a troop of Marines", wrote Welles scholar Bret Wood.

[4]: 395–396 After the show's failure, Welles was keen to stage it in London, where Alexander Korda predicted it would be a great success, but British trade union rules forbade the elaborate props and sets built for the American production, and they had to be destroyed.

Five scenes in the production were motion pictures shot and edited by Orson Welles, in silent-movie style with title cards, and alternated with live action.

As was the Too Much Johnson footage, the Around the World film was black and white without sound in homage to the breathless chases and adventures of the silent era.

Viewing the latter footage would be of great interest because by this time Welles had considerable experience in filmmaking and had acquired a definite cinematic style, drawn largely from other films.

Other sequences included a scene inside the bank and the rescue on the S.S. Tankadere, filmed in one day at the Edison Studios; and a chase through San Francisco.

Critic Lewis Nichols of The New York Times calling the musical "only fitfully amusing", noted that the production "has spared no expense in gadgets and effects.

There are movies of the flicker era, a miniature train crossing a bridge ... and desperate men and bold clinging to the rails of pounding ships at sea.

Finally, Cole Porter has written an inferior score, the songs being on the usual musical comedy subjects and delivered without the zest brought to the show by its mainstay.

But, handicapped by Cole Porter's disappointing music and a slapdash production, it ends up like a Victorian whatnot more cluttered with junk than gems.