When the movie - a very short, soundless abstract piece - was first exhibited, a man in the audience stood up and complained it was giving him a headache. Another man told him to shut up, and they both started to fight. They left the theater fighting and the police were called in to stop the fight.
The movie started production when Tristan Tzara presented Man Ray with the program of a Dadaist festival he was planning. Man Ray saw there was a certain "exhibition of a Dadaist movie by Man Ray" printed on it, and suddenly realized he had to do something about it. He decided to make it by placing objects over pieces of film inside a darkroom and then turning the lights on to print their shadows on the film. There is no audio track.