In the 1894 version the end of act 1, the supposed striptease of Thaïs (which caused a great scandal on the first night due to a mishap with Sibyl Sanderson's costume) is a long symphonic interlude "L'amours d'Aphrodite" that leads without a break into act 2 and the scene with the mirror aria "Dis-moi que je suis belle". In the first edition vocal score, this is 18 pages – 196 bars – almost a fifth of the entire first act. There is a strangely experimental middle section, that is in an amorphous 5/4 time signature (unusual for Massenet) with a sultry whole-tone feel. In 1898 this was cut, though the climax is retained in part as the peroration for act 1 – a mere 17 bars.