Antheil was asked to make his Paris debut at the opening of the Ballets suédois, an important Paris social event. He programmed several recent compositions, including the "Airplane Sonata", the "Sonata Sauvage", and "Mechanism". Halfway through his performance, a riot broke out, much to Antheil's delight. According to Antheil, "People were fighting in the aisles, yelling, clapping, hooting! Pandemonium!... the police entered, and any number of surrealists, society personages, and people of all descriptions were arrested...Paris hadn't had such a good time since the premiere of Stravinsky's "Sacre du Printemps". The riot was filmed and may in fact have been engineered, as the Marcel L'Herbier movie "L'Inhumaine" needed a riot scene set in a concert hall. In the audience were Erik Satie, Darius Milhaud, Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, and Francis Picabia. Antheil was delighted when Satie and Milhaud praised his music.