He studied at the Institute of Geological Survey and graduated from the directing department of VGIK (1963, workshop of Grigori Roshal).

Before studying at VGIK, he worked at the Kartuli Pilmi, the Moscow studio of popular science films.

The greatest popularity to film director Pavel Arsenov was brought by the 5-serial children's television movie Guest from the Future, which appeared on screens in March 1985.

After that, Alisa Seleznyova's film character, created by Arsenov and embodied on the screen of a 12-year-old Moscow schoolgirl Natasha Guseva, became a cult for millions of Soviet schoolchildren.

[4] Daughter Elizaveta (born 1980) works as a make-up stylist in Moscow theaters.