At the time, Jerry Herman's lyrics and music for the Broadway musical 'Hello, Dolly!' (1964) had become a hit. Other Herman's compositions would become popular after appearing in the productions of 'Mame' (1966) and 'La Cage aux Folles' (1983), including Gloria Gaynor's disco version of "I Am What I Am" for the latter.
Henry Fonda's film Fail Safe (1964) was about to premiere on October 7, 1964. The movie's poor box office performance was later attributed to the similarity between it and the nuclear war satire Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), which had appeared in theaters first, in January 1964. Both productions loosely resembled Peter George's novel 'Red Alert' (1958).