Kenworthy's footage of a battle between a tarantula and a wasp intrigued Disney, who funded a feature-length production following the lives of diverse desert species.

Disney was highly supportive of Kenworthy's work and its impact on nonfiction filmmaking: "This is where we can tell a real, sustained story for the first time in these nature pictures".

[5] Prior to the production of The Living Desert, Disney was releasing his films through RKO Radio Pictures, but due to a long-frayed relation with the studio, which had little enthusiasm for the producer's documentary releases, Disney opted to sever his relation with RKO and create his own distribution subsidiary – Buena Vista Distribution, which he named after the street where his office was located.

[1][6] The Living Desert received some criticism for bringing unsubtle humor to its scenes of desert life – Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called Disney to task for adding jokey musical effects to several of the film's scenes, including hoedown music for a sequence involving a scorpion mating dance.

[7] The Academy Award that Disney earned for The Living Desert helped the producer make history as the individual with the most Oscar wins in a single year.