The genesis of Pascal Dusapin's fifth opera took ten years[1] before the composer began writing the play in earnest between 2003 and 2004.

He wrote his own English-language libretto,[3] inspired also by Caligula, Shakespeare, William Blake, Gertrude Stein, and Al Capone.

[1] Dusapin's opera was premiered on 21 January 2006 at the Berlin State Opera, conducted by Michael Boder and staged by Peter Mussbach [de] with Georg Nigl (Faustus), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (Mephistopheles), Robert Wörle (Sly), Jaco Huijpen (Togod), Caroline Stein (Angel) in the lead roles.

[4] The composer regarded the Faustus tale as an allegory of man and power, the human obsession with power, and of light ("über den Menschen und die Macht, die Besessenheit von der Macht, vom Licht"); Faust could be a dictator, terrorist, or president.

[5] A reviewer of The New York Times notes:Mr. Dusapin's music also hovers and shimmers: an almost continuous, slowly shifting fabric of orchestral sound serves as a backdrop on which to hang the text and periodically swells to the foreground.