Le voyage dans la lune (operetta) but due to the need to raise the necessary money he did not take up the project. Eventually Albert Vizentini, the new directeur of the Gaîté, took up the idea, and Offenbach's contribution was limited to that of composer. Albert Vanloo and Eugène Leterrier, in association with Arnold Mortier (columnist at Figaro), wrote the libretto. They were hoping for a repeat of the success of the novels of Jules Verne (another, the novel "Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours", had been adapted for the stage at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin by Verne himself in 1874) and the
Le Monde spreading anti-American and pro-Soviet disinformation to the French media. The archive identified two senior "Le Monde" journalists and several contributors who were used in the operations (see also the article on Russian influence operations in France). Michel Legris, a former journalist with the paper, wrote "Le Monde tel qu'il est" ("Le Monde as it is") in 1976. According to him, the journal minimized the atrocities committed by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge. In their 2003 book titled "La Face cachée du Monde" ("The Hidden face of "Le Monde""), authors Pierre Péan and Philippe Cohen alleged that Colombani and then-editor Edwy Plenel