Wallace and Gromit films are made with stop-motion animation: models of plasticine characters are moved a fraction of an inch between each photograph, and the camera captures one frame at a time. A film runs at 24 frames per second, so even a half-hour short such as A Close Shave takes enormous effort to produce. Animators typically complete around 30 frames each day. Effects that were impossible to build with clay, such as the fire, smoke and floating bunnies in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, were handled by the computer animation firm MPC, which studied the physical sets for three months so its digital bunnies would match the clay ones. The 2005 Aardman studio fire destroyed most of the original models, though a few survived in museums.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.