[2] In a Renaissance chamber decorated with devilish faces and a warped coat of arms, a gleeful demon throws three human victims into a cauldron, which spews out flames with each sacrifice.

Méliès plays the demon, identified in the Star Film Company's American catalogue as Belphegor.

The film's special effects were created with pyrotechnics, multiple exposures, soft focus, and substitution splices.

[3] Méliès's pre-1903 films, especially the popular A Trip to the Moon,[4] were frequently pirated by American producers such as Siegmund Lubin.

[5] To produce the two separate negatives, Méliès built a special camera that used two lenses and two reels of film simultaneously.