Fifteen competing acts participated in the semi-final where the top five entries as determined by a jury panel qualified to the final.

[2] Eurofest 2009 was the national final format developed by BTRC to select the Belarusian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

[4] The third stage was the final, which took place on 19 January 2009 where public televoting determined the winner that would represent Belarus in Moscow out of the five acts.

[16] The televised final took place on 19 January 2009 at the Sports Palace in Minsk, hosted by Anastasiya Tikhanovich and 2007 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Dmitry Koldun.

[22] Following Petr Elfimov's victory at Eurofest 2009, the singer's producer Tatyana Kosmacheva stated that "Eyes That Never Lie" would undergo changes for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The revamped version of the song was produced at the Finnvox Studios in Helsinki by Mikka Karmila and Tero Kinnunen, the latter of whom has worked with the band Nightwish.

[23][24] The official music video, directed by Anastasiya Tikhanovich and filmed at the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Pyrohiv, was released on 26 April.

[25] Petr Elfimov made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Eyes That Never Lie" as the Belarusian Eurovision entry.

On 18 February, Petr Elfimov performed the revamped version of "Eyes That Never Lie" during the Greek Eurovision national final.

[30] On 4 April, Elfimov completed promotional activities in Armenia where he performed the Russian version of "Eyes That Never Lie", titled "Vzglyad lyubvi", during the Armenian Music Awards 2009.

[31] Elfimov had also planned to take part in promotional events in April which was held in London, Amsterdam and Brussels, however, his participation was later cancelled.

[10] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine countries from the televoting progress to the final, and a tenth qualifier was determined by the back-up juries.

This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.