After having attended meetings with companies discussing the prospect of producing something for the Internet and faced with negative feedback on his ideas, he realized that as long as the strike was still in progress, acquiring corporate funding was an unlikely prospect. Whedon himself funded the project investing just over $200,000 and earned more from it than he did directing "The Avengers". He enjoyed the independence he gained from "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" as it provided him the freedom to include content without the expectancy of lessening it on behalf of the runtime. He and Jed composed the music, parts of which were influenced by Stephen Sondheim.