In 1879, he travelled with Gilbert, Sullivan, and Carte to America, where he acted as conductor for "Pinafore" and "The Pirates of Penzance", with Carte's first American touring company. Cellier prepared the overture to "Pirates" using Sullivan's music from the rest of the score. Back in London in July 1880, he directed the music at the Opera Comique for "Pirates" and another of his own pieces with Desprez, "In the Sulks". In April 1881, he left the D'Oyly Carte company, ceding the baton to his brother. Cellier composed a three-act grand opera, "Pandora", a version of Longfellow's "The Masque of Pandora" (with a libretto by B. C. Stephenson) that was presented in Boston in 1881. He returned to America later that year as music director of D'Oyly Carte's New York and touring productions of "Billee Taylor" (1882), "Les Manteaux Noirs" and "Rip Van Winkle" (both in the fall of 1882), and "Iolanthe" (1882–83), for the latter of which he prepared the New York overture.