[6] Sinno co-founded Mashrou' Leila in 2008 while studying graphic design at the American University of Beirut, when responding to an open jam session call put out by Andre Chedid, Omaya Malaeb, and Haig Papazian.

[7] According to Sinno, their parents initially disapproved of their career in music, fearing for their financial prospects and physical safety due to the band's controversial reputation.

In the painting Sinno is depicted pinching the nipple of Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of funerary rites.

[13][14] The work references and draws inspiration from a painting by an unknown painter, titled Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses sœurs, that depicts the mistress of Henry IV of France.

The Cairo pride flag incident resulted in the arrest of a number of concert-goers, including Sarah Hegazi,[13][14] who subsequently took her own life while self-exiled in Canada after having experienced traumatic incarceration and mistreatment in Egypt.