Although most of the short film is based on an excerpt from the 1991 novel "Reaper Man" by Terry Pratchett, the opening monologue concerning the Great A'Tuin and the nature of the Discworld is taken from his 1983 novel "The Colour of Magic", the first in the "Discworld" series.
Christopher Lee would later reprise his role as Death in Wyrd Sisters (1997), Soul Music (1997) and The Color of Magic (2008).