It was modeled on the Palais Garnier, the older of Paris's two opera houses, and is considered to be one of the architectural landmarks of Hanoi.

As mentioned before, Hanoi Opera House was modeled on the Palais Garnier but with a smaller scale and using materials that are suitable with the environment.

The return of Western opera, and the first major non-French or Italian opera, was a performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin organised under Vietnam-Soviet cultural auspices in 1960, where the Russian vocal coach selected an untrained singer Quý Dương as a fit for the baritone title role.

Famous singers of the company include the Tchaikovsky Conservatory-trained soprano Lê Dung, the youngest ever person to be awarded People's Artist of Vietnam in 1993.

The National Ballet is also part of the Opera House company and stages Western classics such as Swan Lake as well as traditional and modern Vietnamese dance productions.