Produced by the Edison Studios, the film portrays the disastrous yet inspiring military attack in October 1854 by British light cavalry against Imperial Russian artillery positions in the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War (1854-1856), in the Crimea of southern Russia along the Black Sea coast.

After the men leave the room, the film cuts to scenes much later in a British encampment in the Crimea, near the small harbor town of Balaklava, where Morris and Nolan are writing letters as fellow troopers assemble the evening before the battle.

When he delivers the orders, Nolan appears to gesture in the general direction of Russian batteries guarding the end of the valley instead of toward Raglan's intended objective, captured British guns positioned elsewhere.

Despite the mix-up in Raglan's orders, Lucan commands his subordinate Lord Cardigan, to lead a full charge of his light brigade into the valley, which is heavily fortified on three sides by lines of Russian cannons.

In order for Edison Studios to produce in 1912 a large, believable recreation of the famous charge, director J. Searle Dawley made arrangements with the commander of Fort D. A. Russell near Cheyenne, Wyoming to have between 750 and 800 of his federal troopers to perform as British cavalry units and as Russian artillery crews and supporting infantry.

[10] The rolling, largely barren hillsides on Fort Russell's military reservation proved to be an ideal setting for filming, offering Dawley a terrain that in its general appearance looks very similar to the Crimean landscape where the 1854 cavalry charge occurred.

"[13] The interior footage in the film's opening scene, which portrays Nolan and Morris bidding farewell to their wives, was likely shot at Edison's New York studio before Dawley and his company of actors and crew traveled cross country to Wyoming, which formed only one part of an "extensive picture making tour" destined for California.

In assembling that final cut, Edison film editors also placed at various points in the footage intertitles or text cards that identify the main characters and present verses from Lord Tennyson's poem.

[1] Two weeks afternoon the film's release, the Midwest correspondent for The Moving Picture World reported it as "a tremendous hit in Chicago theaters", adding "Great applause has greeted its presentation at all houses where it has been shown.

"[18] Edison's release even proved to be highly popular in England, where an American attempt to portray British military history on screen would usually be greeted by reviewers with contempt if not dismissed entirely.

Portions of Roberts' letter to the Edison Manufacturing Company[e] are quoted in the November 1912 issue of the London trade journal The Cinema News and Property Gazette:"I write to thank you heartily for the great treat you gave me in affording me a private view of your magnificent film of 'The Balaclava Light Brigade Charge.

Marion Howard, a correspondent for the New York-based trade magazine The Moving Picture World shared with his readers the reaction to the film by a theatergoer in Boston in the weeks after its rerelease:As a filler at the Fenway we had the pleasure of seeing "The Charge of the Light Brigade," done splendidly by the Edison Company.