The score was done by the Russian-born Hollywood composer Dimitri Tiomkin and drew heavily on Tchaikovsky along with traditional Russian folk songs and ballads.

To give a positive impression of the Soviet Union to the American audience, the country's ethnic diversity is covered in, detail and elements of Russian culture that are familiar to Americans, including the musical compositions of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Leo Tolstoy's book War and Peace, are also mentioned.

The start of the film includes a quote from US General Douglas MacArthur, who commends the Russian people's defense of their nation as one of the most courageous feats in military history.

The film then covers the German conquests of the Balkans, which are described as a preliminary to close off possible Allied counter-invasion routes before the war against Russia was launched on June 22, 1941.

[4] The episode has been described as "a blatant pro-Soviet propaganda posing as factual analysis" and was withdrawn from circulation during the Cold War.