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Sparks produced the album, their first in this genre, after it was commissioned as a radio musical by Sweden's national broadcasting service, Sveriges Radio.^[3][4] The project was proposed to Sparks by Marie Wennersten of SR Radioteatern, the station's radio drama department. Wennersten had become a Sparks fan after watching the duo perform in Sweden in 2004: "I had never seen such energy and love from the audience. I thought the Södra Theatre was going to take off and fly away. I wrote to the Sparks fansite and thanked them for the experience."^[5] Wennersten subsequently travelled to Los Angeles as a journalist, to attend and report on another Sparks concert.^[5] By that time, the idea of a collaboration had formed in her mind: "I always dreamed of dragging them into the radio world."^[5][6]

Wennersten contacted Sparks when Jasenko Selimovic, the head of SR Radioteatern, decided that the station would produce a number of new musicals.^[6] She thought Sparks would be suitable for the format: "They are a bit extravagant; they have a larger-than-life quality, and above all, they make music that is colourful enough for it not to feel like you miss a visual component."^[6] Sparks were initially somewhat surprised by the invitation to write a musical for Swedish radio, and were hesitant to take on the project.^[6] However, after several months of persuasive effort from Wennersten, via e-mail and telephone, they decided to accept the challenge.^[7] "We originally thought of it as a side project between albums, but once we started working on it, it took on a bigger life," Sparks have said.^[8] "As Americans we have almost abandoned radio drama and it was truly exhilarating for us to work in a medium where the imagination of the listener is so integral a part of the work. Aside from our love of Bergman, we have a love of Orson Welles and his use of the medium of radio was something that inspired us in this work."^[9]

Sveriges Radio stipulated that the work had to include a Swedish element.^[10] Singer Russell Mael told The National, "At first, we obviously thought of cars and Ikea. I’m joking. But the more profound, more lasting idea – being the film fans we are – was Ingmar Bergman. So we hit upon a fantasy situation of him going to Hollywood, which is obviously a lot more universal, too."^[10] Before starting work on the musical, the Mael brothers decided to refresh their memories by looking at Bergman's films again.^[11] "We were both really big film fans in university. At that time unless you only liked foreign film, and hated American ones, you weren’t cool", Ron Mael told The Times.^[12] "There was a real kind of seriousness to [Bergman]. He actually addressed big things and was able to frame those in really pure, cinematic ways. Now those things are seen as being kind of pretentious. Everyone wants to be seen as though they don’t care about the big issues."^[12]Commenting on the suitability of Bergman as the topic of a musical, Russell Mael told a Swedish newspaper, "In a way, he is the least appropriate person for a musical. We like the absurdity of it all. He was such a deep, intense person and the vast majority of his films are about really deep topics. But we did not want to ridicule him, we wanted to do something respectful that Bergman would have been able to appreciate."^[11]

In writing a musical about film making in Hollywood, Sparks were also informed by their own past film projects.^[12] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they had spent six years trying to get their film Mai, the Psychic Girl produced.^[12] Based on a Japanese manga comic, the film was at one time supposed to be directed by Tim Burton. Although the music had been completed, the film failed to materialise, an experience that coloured their portrayal of the studio head in The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman.^[12] Earlier, Sparks had worked with French director Jacques Tati on Confusion, another film project that remained uncompleted.^[12] Having had numerous meetings with Tati over the course of a year, they were aware that, like other great European directors, Tati had been wooed by Hollywood: "He showed me a letter from Paramount", Ron Mael recalled. "He said: ‘Oooh! They take me to Hollywood and they have a limousine for me.’ But it was kind of mocking of the whole similar situation to our fantasy Bergman thing. He could see Hollywood for what it was."^[12]

Sveriges Radio gave Sparks free rein to develop the project: "Once we got the basic concept approved, we were able to work according to our own ideas. SR asked us to be as faithful to our own vision as possible."^[13] In the end, Sparks felt it had been "a perfect project. It forced us out of our comfort zone. And it has proved to be a safer way to achieve creative success than any other in the history of Sparks."^[11]