The film documents Britain's military preparedness, showing scenes of the army and navy in preparation for war, and the manufacture of munitions.

The film was made by the Cinema Committee, comprising Charles Urban, William Jury of Jury's Imperial Pictures and Tommy Welsh of Gaumont, at the behest of the covert British propaganda organisation, the War Propaganda Bureau (also known as Wellington House).

The naval scenes were filmed in September and October by Charles Urban, who operated one of the cameras, alongside Teddy Tong, Charlie Weddup and Fred Wilson.

These are the sections of the film as it was originally exhibited:[3] Part I: The New Army in the Making Part II: The Sure Shield of Britain and Empire The film ran for six weeks at the Empire, then was converted into a shorter, monochrome-only version for general release in the UK and overseas.

[6] It was exhibited overseas in many countries, usually managed by local concessionaries, but for some key territories special representation was required.

He experienced great difficulty in getting the film shown, because of exhibitors' resistance to propaganda and protests from German American interests.