Sparked by the friendship between Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí, the film was commissioned to be part of a compilation film. Work started in 1946, and fifteen seconds of footage were created before the project was abandoned.
There is an hour and twenty-two minute documentary about the Destino story.
Disney vice-chairman Roy Edward Disney was inspired to re-start production on the film after producing Kalpana 2000 (1999), which mentioned the aborted project.
Production on this film began in 1945, but it was shelved a year or two later until Roy Disney rediscovered it in 1999.