Mozaffar al-Din spent his 35 years as crown prince in the pursuit of pleasure; his relations with his father were frequently strained, and he was not consulted in important matters of state.

At Mozaffar al-Din's accession, Iran faced a financial crisis, with annual governmental expenditures far in excess of revenues as a result of the policies of his father.

During his reign, Mozzafar ad-Din attempted some reforms of the central treasury; however, the previous debt incurred by the Qajar court, owed to both England and Russia, significantly undermined this effort.

During these periods, on the encouragements of his chancellor Amin-os-Soltan, he borrowed money from Nicholas II of Russia to pay for his extravagant traveling expenses.

Immediately falling in love with the silver screen the Shah ordered his personal photographer to acquire all the equipment and knowledge needed to bring the moving picture to Iran, thus starting Persian cinema.

[5] The following is a translated excerpt from the Shah's diary: ....[At] 9:00 p.m. we went to the Exposition and the Festival Hall where they were showing cinematographe, which consists of still and motion pictures.

We instructed Akkas Bashi to purchase all kinds of it [cinematographic equipment] and bring to Tehran so God willing he can make some there and show them to our servants.Additionally, in order to manage the costs of the state and his extravagant personal lifestyle Mozzafar ad-din Shah decided to sign many concessions, providing foreigners with monopolistic control of various Persian industries and markets.

These resulted in the Shah accepting a suggestion to create a Majles (National Consultative Assembly) in October 1906, by which the monarch's power was curtailed as he granted a constitution and parliament to the people.

[3] According to the modern Iranian historian Abbas Amanat, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah "possessed neither his father’s panache nor his political skills to pull strings at the court and the divan, or to play the competing European powers off one another to his own advantage.