How Does a Moment Last Forever marks the first collaboration between Menken and Rice in over two decades; the last time they worked together had been in the "Beauty and the Beast" musical. Menken believes that the songs he and Rice had written for the musical would not have translated well to the screen due to the structural differences between the two formats. One of at least nine significant changes made to the film specifically for the remake, "How Does a Moment Last Forever" was conceived to explain Belle's backstory. Her quest to find out her mother's fate serves, in the plot, as a foundation for
How Does a Moment Last Forever about her mother. "It's obvious that he's still holding on to her", wrote "Bustle"'s Olivia Truffaut-Wong. This version was dubbed "Music Box" in the soundtrack listing. Later in the film, the Beast (Dan Stevens) allows Belle to use his enchanted book so they can travel wherever she wants. She uses it to return to the Parisian home where she lived as a baby with her parents. There, while she sings "How Does a Moment Last Forever", they find a Plague mask and Belle learns that her mother fell victim of the plague. A flashback explains that Belle's mother had pleaded