The story utilized a film-within-a-film narrative which follows the last day in the life of an aging Hollywood film director (Huston) as he hosts a screening party for his unfinished latest project. The film was shot in an unconventional mockumentary style featuring a rapid cutting approach with both color and black-and-white footage. It was intended as a satire of both the passing of Classic Hollywood and of the avant-garde filmmakers of Europe and New Hollywood in the 1970s. The unreleased results would be called "the Holy Grail of cinema". It holds the record for the longest production time in history — 48 years.