The ceremony was televised in the United States by ABC, produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and directed by Hamish Hamilton.

[10] In related events, the Academy held its 6th Annual Governors Awards ceremony at the Grand Ballroom of the Hollywood and Highland Center on November 8, 2014.

[13][14] Other winners included The Grand Budapest Hotel with four awards, Whiplash with three, and American Sniper, Big Hero 6, Boyhood, Citizenfour, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Feast, Ida, The Imitation Game, Interstellar, The Phone Call, Selma, Still Alice, and The Theory of Everything with one.

[21] Having won for his work on Gravity the year before, Emmanuel Lubezki became the fourth person to win two consecutive Best Cinematography awards.

"Their showmanship has elevated the show to new heights and we are excited to keep the momentum going with this creative partnership," said AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs in a press release announcing the selection.

To be asked to follow in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres, and everyone else who had the great fortune of hosting is a bucket list dream come true.

[34] Oscar-winning husband-and-wife songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez composed Harris's opening number entitled "Moving Pictures".

[35] Musicians Questlove and Mark Mothersbaugh and actor Will Arnett made cameos during the performance of Best Original Song nominee "Everything Is Awesome".

When the nominations were announced on January 15, 2015, The Grand Budapest Hotel was the highest-grossing film among the Best Picture nominees with $59.1 million in domestic box office receipts.

Only Big Hero 6 (9th), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (16th), and Into the Woods (25th) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature or any of the directing, acting or screenwriting awards.

The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were Guardians of the Galaxy (1st), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (3rd), The Lego Movie (4th), Maleficent (6th), The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (7th), X-Men: Days of Future Past (8th), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (10th), Interstellar (15th), and Unbroken (27th).

Shortly after the nominations were announced, many news media outlets highlighted the lack of racial diversity amongst the nominees in major award categories.

[49] Several days before the awards gala, the National Action Network led by civil rights activist Al Sharpton and several other organizations planned to demonstrate near the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre before and during the telecast.

HitFix television columnist Alan Sepinwall commented, "It ran on and on and on and on so much that when host Neil Patrick Harris finally got around to paying off a running gag about his Oscar predictions being locked in a box on stage left, he had to stop to explain the bit to us all over again."

He was calm and cheerful and vanilla as usual, always ready with a lightly snarky joke and always eager to jump into a big production number involving old-timey choreography.

"[55] The Times-Picayune columnist Dave Walker wrote, "Harris played it like he was basically born to do it—light on his feet working the crowd or at center stage without his pants, winkingly self-deprecating, moving-right-along when his prepared material didn't land (which was too often)—and he now may have a job for life if he wants it."

[56] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter quipped, "Harris displayed winning charm and appealing insouciance, sprinkling the gags with moments of self-deprecation."

[61] The following month, the ceremony won one of those nominations for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camera Work, and Video Control for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special (Technical Directors: Eric Becker, Rick Edwards, John Pritchett, and Rod Wardell; Cameras: Rob Balton, Danny Bonilla, Robert Del Russo, David Eastwood, Suzanne Ebner, Pat Gleason, Ed Horton, Marc Hunter, Jay Kulick, Brian Lataille, Tore Livia, Steve Martyniuk, Lyn Noland, Rob Palmer, David Plakos, Camera, Jofre Romero, Danny Webb, Mark Whitman, and Easter Xua; Video Control: Terrance Ho, Guy Jones, and Keith Winikoff).