It features performances by several rock bands that emerged from the San Francisco music scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Santana, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, and Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Additionally, the film includes documentary footage shot several years earlier in and around San Francisco, showing the emergence of the music scene there amid the counterculture of the 1960s and the hippie movement.

[4] Fillmore was shot on 16 mm film and was released in a widescreen format with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

[4][5][6][7] At 94 minutes, the DVD version of the film differs from the original 105-minute theatrical release (released on VHS by All Star Video Corp.), omitting contentious scenes of Bill Graham's interactions with Boz Scaggs, Mike Wilhelm of The Charlatans [8] and a performance of "I'll Be Long Gone" by Boz Scaggs.

Fillmore: The Last Days, a live album of music selected from the same run of concerts, was released as a three-disc vinyl LP box set in 1972.