It is mistakenly believed that Gian-Carlo Menotti's opera, "Labyrinth", premiered on this series in 1963. In fact, it premiered in 1962, and was scheduled to be repeated on 24 November 1963, but the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, on 22 November 1963, affected the entire television lineup for the next four days, and the opera was not repeated on the date scheduled.
In an unexpected way, NBC Opera Theatre was the victim of its own success: in attempting to create a new art form, in trying to humanize opera, bringing the drama home to the viewer and making it more realistic for the small screen, they perhaps did their job too well. As director Kirk Browning noted, "we reached the point where the audience was saying, 'Why are they singing?'"
In a 15 year run on NBC, the series was listed under three titles: NBC Opera Theatre, NBC Opera Company, and NBC Opera.