Although Kinopanorama was initially known as Panorama (Russian: панорамный фильм, panoramnyy film) in the Soviet Union the name was later revised to include its current name prior to the premiere screenings in Moscow in 1958.
The mechanical design of the first camera, which was designated as model SKP-1, evolved from the comprehensive research into other patents, each of which cited the invention of devices for the filming—and projection—of 'mosaic images' (moving and still), lodged with the United States Patent Office (dating from 1948 onwards) by, among others, Fred Waller and Richard C Babish of the Vitarama Corporation; Winton Hoch ASC; and, lastly, Paul Stanley Smith and George Wilber Moffitt, of the Smith-Dietrich Corporation), the co-inventors of Cinemiracle, a rival three-lens, three-film widescreen format.
It is believed that the prototype Cinerama camera number one, on display in the foyer of the National Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK, was originally milled for Dubray-Howell negative perforations, although this has never been confirmed.
The first Kinopanorama film, Vast is my Native Land, which in North America was titled Great Is My Country, was premiered on 28 February 1958, at the Mir Kino Theatre in Moscow.
A test film, known as Chastity, Truth and Kinopanorama (a pun on the title of Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape) was shot in Moscow in 1993 before the camera and crew were flown to Sydney.
The restoration was premiered in Dayton, Ohio, USA, at the New Neon Movies and was screened at the Pacific Theatres Cinerama Dome in Hollywood in October 2004, and at the Bradford Widescreen Festival on March 19, 2008.