The ballet was commissioned by the "Kremlin Ballet" Theatre. Choreographed by Andrei Petrov, with a libretto by Alexander Belinsky and Andrei Petrov. The production was created specifically for the leading soloists of the premiere cast — Valery Lantratov (Napoleon) and Zhanna Bogoroditskaya (Josephine). The 1997 recording conducted by Alexander Vedernikov became the definitive, reference execution of the complete musical score.