Wilson, Parks, and Sahanaja configured the presentation into three movements. The third effectively constituted songs that were leftover from the other two movements, and in Sahanaja's description, "the stuff that was the riskiest" from Wilson's point of view. In Wilson's words, "We thought of it as 2-movement rock opera. Then we added a third [and we called it a 3-movement rock opera." Sahanaja said: "At that point, he and Van Dyke were talking as if they were finishing "Smile"." The subtitles for these movements ("Americana", "Cycle of Life", and "Spiritual Rebirth—Elements") were the invention of music writer Peter Reum. In a 2011 interview, Sahanaja stated that Wilson never mentioned an "elemental" concept during these sessions: "whenever I did bring up the concept he didn't seem to react to it with any enthusiasm. I brought it up again while Van Dyke was around and didn't get a clear reaction from him either."