It features English singer-songwriter David Bowie and his backing group the Spiders from Mars performing at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 3 July 1973, the final date of his Ziggy Stardust Tour.

Early in 1972, Bowie had taken the stage persona of Ziggy Stardust, a science fiction-based, theatrical, enigmatic, androgynous character, and produced two hit albums during this period.

[11][12][13][14] MainMan, Bowie's management company, reportedly "paid a small fortune" to finance the film, which they hoped to recoup through a theatrical release soon after the tour.

[11][12] However, Dylan Jones in his 2012 book When Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie and the Four Minutes That Shook the World quoted Pennebaker as saying that "RCA said, we have this guy and he's going to do a concert, maybe the last one he's going to do, and you've got to go make a film.

[16] According to film critic Phil Hall, it remained in post-production for years "due to Pennebaker's inability to achieve an adequate soundtrack mix".

[7][23] Sources have variously said that Beck was not happy with his performance and/or his clothes,[21][24] and that he was concerned about possible harm to his image from appearing in a glam rock film.

[5] However, the film did play in cinemas in 1983 and 1984, including at the 8th Street Playhouse in New York City in December 1983 before circulating through the U.S. midnight movie circuit.

[7] A digitally remastered 30th Anniversary Edition DVD was released by EMI/Virgin in 2003, which featured remixed sound by Tony Visconti that removed some overdubs created for the 1983 version and restored the stereo mix of the audience.

[14][23] A 2023 re-release, remastered in 4k and overseen by Pennebaker among others, re-incorporated the songs performed by Beck during the show (including "The Jean Genie"), a 5.1 audio mix and a 1-hour 42-minute runtime.

The film has frequently been criticized for its technical defects, including its dark, grainy quality, sloppy framing of shots,[5][30] and poor audio.

[31] Bowie's performance in the film, especially during the first part of the show, has also been criticized as being stiff and lacking in enthusiasm, perhaps due to his loss of interest in his Ziggy persona.

[32] Others have complained that the intercutting between audience and stage is distracting and that too much footage of the fans, particularly emotional teenage girls, was included in the finished film.

[30] Eleanor Levy of Record Mirror wrote, "Despite the technical defects, what finally spoils the film are the cuts to the 'real' Bowie in his dressing room...Such scenes are intrusive.

[33] The 2023 remaster received a five-out-of-five star rating from The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, commending the film for presenting a "new raw intimacy" in the "familiar" songs.