It stars Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, playing fictionalized versions of themselves, who travel through Asia and compete against each other for a potential role in Scorsese's next film.

Actors Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio meet with director Martin Scorsese at the City of Dreams Resort in Manila.

The Audition was financed by the Melco Crown Entertainment Limited to commission the opening of Studio City, the company's third casino in the southern Chinese territory of Macau.

[4][5] The script was written by Terence Winter, with whom director Martin Scorsese had previously collaborated on The Wolf of Wall Street and Boardwalk Empire.

[7] De Niro and DiCaprio found the short film's premise humorous due to their long histories of working with Scorsese.

[1] On October 27, 2015, The Audition made its official world premiere at Studio City in Macau, China in conjunction with the resort's grand opening.

[1] A prior screening had taken place earlier that month at the 20th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea on October 3, 2015.

[8] The short was also supposed to screen at the Venice Film Festival on September 7, 2015, but was reportedly cancelled due to technical problems.

[5] Elizabeth Kerr of The Hollywood Reporter called The Audition a "keenly self-aware pop culture nugget" that blurred the line between art and advertising.