The footage shown includes the choosing of Hideaki Anno as the voice actor for the character Jiro Horikoshi in The Wind Rises as well as the extensive and detailed amount of storyboarding sketched, inked, and painted by Miyazaki.

It notes Miyazaki's opinions on subjects such as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and Zero planes, and shows his tensions with some of the other staff, including Isao Takahata, and his memories of his father.

The website's critics consensus reads: "The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness is a captivating treat for Studio Ghibli fans -- and may prove nearly as entertaining and enlightening for the unconverted.

Club expressed that it held an "emotional wallop that’s almost on par with anything found in one of Miyazaki’s or Takahata’s films", calling it "a delicate depiction of the artistic spirit".

[8] Peter Debruge of the website Variety said that the "atmosphere inside Studio Ghibli may suggest a zen-like idyll, but animation is a painstaking — and sometimes painful — process", and that Sunada "makes us appreciate the magic all the more".