Magic Flute Diaries concept for a film inspired by Mozart’s "The Magic Flute" emerged from a number of sources. Director, writer and producer of the film, Kevin Sullivan, became interested in the city of Salzburg after his daughter travelled there with her school orchestra to attend Mozart’s 250th birthday celebrations. Sullivan was also inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical, "The Woman in White", which used three-dimensional backdrops in its London production. Though Sullivan claims not to be an opera buff, he had always had a love for Mozart’s "The Magic Flute". Due to the impossibility (budget and time constraints) of filming on-location
Welsh National Opera with the company's musical director James Lockhart, Geliot is credited by "The Times" with introducing new young singers and "directing a host of groundbreaking productions" before leaving in 1978. The critic Rodney Milnes wrote in 1975 about WNO's productions: In 1973 Geliot's WNO staging of Britten's "Billy Budd" with Allen in the title role was presented on a Swiss tour, and two years later it was given in Barcelona. The company returned to London with its participation in the Amoco Festival of Opera at the Dominion Theatre in 1979, presenting "The Makropoulos Case", "The Magic Flute", "Ernani", "Madame Butterfly", and