The idea for "The Land Before Time" came during production of "An American Tail". Steven Spielberg's studio Amblin Entertainment was interested in doing a film about dinosaurs, which were popular at the time, leading Spielberg, director Don Bluth, and producer George Lucas to develop the prehistoric setting and its cast. Inspired by the dinosaur-themed "Rite of Spring" sequence from Disney's "Fantasia", Spielberg had originally intended for the movie to have no speech, with music cues and body language telling the story, effectively rendering all the characters mute. However, it was decided that the film could not carry a story without dialogue, and each character was given language accordingly. The film's artists used the "Fantasia" sequence and characters as guides when creating their first concept art.