The special consisted of a performance of many of Orbison's hits at the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles, filmed on September 30, 1987, approximately fourteen months before his death.
Male background vocalists, some of whom also joined in on guitar and keyboards, included Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, JD Souther and Steven Soles.
Soon after the release on VHS and LaserDisc, a bootleg CD entitled A Black and White Night, Roy Orbison in Concert with the Billion Dollar Band surfaced.
After Orbison's death, his family provided the video to public television stations to air during their fund-raising campaigns.
The soundtrack has been released on CD, SACD that features both Stereo and Multi Channel Mixes, 12" vinyl LP, and DVD-Audio.
The DVD features standard definition 480i video in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio and three lossy soundtracks: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS 5.1 The Blu-ray features high definition 1080i video in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio and two lossless soundtracks: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 The HD DVD features high definition 1080i video in a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio and at least one lossless soundtrack: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround February 24, 2017 saw the release of a re-edited 30th Anniversary Version of the Concert retitled "Roy Orbison Black & White Night 30," that contains footage that is not available on the out-of-print Blu-Ray and HD DVD releases that Image Entertainment distributed in 2007/2008.
The Secret Post Show (Alternative Versions) TCB Band: Guest performers: Lighting Designer: Lee Rose