When working on "The Last Waltz," camera operators were instructed to turn their cameras off on different intervals, in order to save battery life. One of these instances was during Muddy Waters' set, but Waters' outstanding performance led director Martin Scorsese to spontaneously change his mind, and ordered all cameras to be turned on. Because the cameras took several minutes to fully warm up, most caught only the last few bars of Waters' performance. Kovács, however, either did not hear or disregarded orders to shut down his camera, and was the only cameraperson on set who managed to film Waters' entire performance.