The first U.S. production of "Amahl" to actually be filmed; all previous productions had either been telecast live or on videotape. This was also the first production of the opera in which any part of it was filmed on location in the Holy Land.
The first telecast of "Amahl" on NBC in twelve years. Because of a dispute over the NBC 1963 production, shot on videotape rather than shown live, composer-librettist Gian Carlo Menotti had refused permission for further telecasts of that production after 1966.