Relatively late in production, Disney removed Larson as the supervising director and replaced him with Clyde Geronimi. Directing animator Wolfgang Reitherman would join Geronimi as sequence director over the climactic dragon battle sequence commenting that "We took the approach that we were going to kill that damned prince!" Les Clark, another member of the Nine Old Men, would serve as the sequence director of the elaborate opening scene where crowds of the citizens in the kingdom arrive at the palace for the presentation of Princess Aurora.