The MPS is part of the LDS Church's media production division, which includes producers, editors, animators, sound stages, editing bays, and a collection of 19th-century buildings on a backlot.

LDS Church president David O. McKay worked with Ernest L. Wilkinson and others to open the studio, appointing Whitaker as head.

[4] The MPS South Campus, in Elberta, Utah, was approved by the church's First Presidency in 2010 and construction began on a set of biblical Jerusalem.

Elberta, population less than 1,000, was chosen because of the surrounding area's similarity to Jerusalem's geography—hills, plains, cedar trees, and a stream.

[5] Lynn G. Robbins, executive director of the church's Media Services Department, was instrumental in the creation of the MPS South Campus.