This is released as part of Art Haus' Walter Felsenstein edition. Felsenstein, a contemporary of Bertold Brecht, ran the East German Komische Oper from just after World War II to his death. Felstenstein was famous for his ensemble productions and for the enormous amount of rehearsal time that went into his productions.

Ritter Blaubart is a DEFA studio recording, commissioned by East German television, of Walter Felsenstein's production of Jacques Offenbach's operetta Bluebeard in three acts at the Komische Oper Berlin. The operetta was recorded in color at the DEFA Studios for Feature Films in Potsdam-Babelsberg. The film was first shown in theaters on April 27, 1973, in a gala preview at the Kino International in Berlin.