[3] Combining computer graphics and traditional animation on live-action backgrounds, the short features characters from the majority of the studio's works made up to that point.

[b] The film was dedicated in memory of Burny Mattinson, the company's longest-serving employee,[5] who made a cameo in the short and died eight months before its release.

While everyone is getting prepared, Mickey approaches a photograph of studio co-founder Walt Disney and thanks him in a private, somber moment.

The rest of the group of characters sing the next line in the song, before Mickey holds up Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio, 1940), who leads the assembled characters for the song's final line before they pose for the group photo, with Tinker Bell using her wand to match cut to the finished photo.

Once Upon a Studio was created spontaneously in preparation for the Walt Disney Company's centennial in October 2023;[20] directors Trent Correy and Dan Abraham discussed ideas during their free time[21] for approximately eight months.

[14] Other archive recordings taken from their original films include Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan and Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, as the filmmakers intended not to recast those characters.

[10] Many of the props that the animated characters interact with are CG, including the vending machine that Stromboli shakes and Goofy's camera and ladder.

[28] An early idea the filmmakers received from studio employees multiple times was to include a scene of a room full of all the characters voiced by Alan Tudyk since he has voiced a character in every Disney Animation film since Wreck-It Ralph (2012).

This idea was abandoned, though Tudyk was included in the short as the voice of the Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland [1951]).

Once Upon a Studio had its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival during the opening day celebration on June 11, 2023.

Unlike the American broadcast, which featured a host and an intro, CTV 2 only aired the short and Encanto afterwards.

On October 18, 2023, Disneyland Resort announced that a short film, Once Upon a Studio was added inside the Opera House cinema in Main Street Cinema at Disneyland, since the beginning of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Animation Studios on October 16, 2023.

[48] Its premiere on Disney Channel the following day at 6:05 pm (serving as a sustainer to a "Disney Channel Movie"[49]) received 0.349 million viewers, making the highest rated program on the network that week and the 343rd most viewed program on all of cable television.