He first sent four young men (Ahmed Badrakhan, Maurice Kassab, Mohamed Abdel Azim, and Hassan Mourad) to study in Germany, which then led the world in film production.

Harb then recruited experts in various aspects of filmmaking, employed director Fritz Kramp, and purchased the latest equipment.

Facing difficulty raising capital in the 1940s, Studio Misr reduced its emphasis on direct film production, increasingly renting out its development, printing and editing facilities to other Arab filmmakers.

[4] During World War II, many poor-quality but commercially successful films were created by people wanting to earn profit, and the studio was affected by this type of competition.

[2] Several other studios were founded in Cairo in the wake of the success of Misr, including Al-Ahram,[2] Nassibian[6] (incorrectly spelt Nassabian[2] or Nasabian[7] in some sources), Galal, and Nahhas, although none attained the same stature.