Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman notes that this film illustrates music history through use of humor, following a formula that the Disney studio had previously used in "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" (1953). In this case Ludwig Von Drake plays the songs which he supposedly helped popularize, covering musical styles from the 1900s decade to the 1960s. Certain segments of the film use stop motion animation. The technique was unusual for a Disney film, but did nor mark the first time the studio used it in a film. It had earlier been used in "Noah's Ark" (1959), a well-received animated short. "Noah's Ark" had actually been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.