The encyclopedia was written by Sergey Kapkov and compiled with the help of several journalists and editors over the course of a few years.

This was partly out of necessity because of the destruction of some archives in the post-Soviet period, notably that of Soyuzmultfilm.

[3] The book contains 1050 biographies (each of which contains an exhaustive filmography) of people involved in animation of all sorts of different professions:[4] directors, artists, animators, writers, camera operators, editors, composers, voice actors and critics.

It covers the historical period from 1912, when Ladislas Starevich made the first Russian animated film with insect skeletons, to the present day.

Upon the book's release, many animators (especially from former Soviet republics) contacted the authors and provided additional information about themselves and their colleagues, as well as some factual corrections.