The show depicts complicated industrial processes that transform raw materials into finished products available for consumption by Americans.

[6][7] In 1958, the show changed formats, recycling and rearranging old footage to provide broader overviews of different industries.

These reels were donated to the National Museum of American History in 1974, and held by the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources until being transferred to the Archives Center in 1994.

[2] The show promotes capitalist industrial production and each episode prominently includes an anticommunist message.

The success of Industry on Parade provoked the AFL–CIO to demand its own "public service" time on television, which they obtained and used to broadcast Americans at Work (1958–1961).