Before meeting Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov had written, among other works, "something like the beginning of a symphony in E♭ minor.

[5] Balakirev subjected this music to considerable criticism; Rimsky-Korsakov incorporated his suggested changes zealously.

[5] By the time the navy sent Rimsky-Korsakov on a three-year world cruise in 1862, he had completed the first movement, scherzo and finale of the symphony.

[5] He wrote the slow movement during a stop in England, then mailed the score to Balakirev before going back to sea.

[11] As leader of "The Five", Balakirev encouraged the use of eastern themes and harmonies to set their "Russian" music apart from the German symphonism of Anton Rubinstein and other Western-orientated composers.

[12] "The symphony is good," fellow "Five" member César Cui wrote to Rimsky-Korsakov in 1863, while the latter was out on naval deployment.

[16] "I felt that I was ignorant of many things," Rimsky-Korsakov later wrote, "but was convinced that Balakirev knew everything in the world, and he cleverly concealed from me and the others [among 'The Five'] the insufficiency of his information.

But in orchestral coloring and combination of instruments he was a good practical hand, and his counsels were invaluable to me.