Zeffirelli met Arturo Toscanini at the Teatro alla Scala in 1954. Toscanini was nearly ninety years old, and, being at home in the theatre where he had served as music and artistic director for many years, he happened to walk into the auditorium during a lighting rehearsal by the young Zeffirelli. Annoyed and irritated by the intrusion, Zeffirelli asked him to leave and let him work in peace. He later met Toscanini again at the home of the maestro’s daughter, Wally. Far from being offended, Toscanini recounted to Zeffirelli the difficulties he himself had faced at La Scala when, as a very young man, he was determined to prove his worth.
It is therefore no surprise that Zeffirelli chose to tell the story of Toscanini’s adventurous debut, which took place in 1886 in Rio de Janeiro, and to intertwine it with the equally adventurous story of the singer Nadina Bulicioff and her commitment to the cause of abolishing slavery in Brazil.
The making of the film was particularly troubled. Due to legal issues, it was not possible to shoot in Brazil, so most of the filming was done in Portugal and Tunisia. The grand sequence of the first performance of "Aida" — the event during which all the threads of the intertwined stories are resolved — was filmed at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, using the sets and costumes designed by Lila de Nobili for the production of "Aida" directed by Zeffirelli at La Scala 25 years earlier. Enthusiasts thus have the chance to see in the film excerpts from that legendary production, enhanced by the on-screen presence of tenor Carlo Bergonzi, who also performed in the opera in 1963.