The film is Ron Fricke's follow-up to Godfrey Reggio's similar non-verbal documentary film "Koyaanisqatsi". Fricke was cinematographer and collaborator on Reggio's film, and for "Baraka" he struck out on his own to polish and expand the photographic techniques used on "Koyaanisqatsi". Shot in 70 mm, it includes a mixture of photographic styles including slow motion and time-lapse. Two camera systems were used to achieve this. A Todd-AO system was used to shoot conventional frame rates, but to execute the film's time-lapse sequences Fricke had a special camera built that combined time-lapse photography with perfectly controlled movements.