Financed by a British company, this is one of the first co-productions of the history of cinema, if not the first ever.
Méliès signed a contract with the Warwick Trading Company to produce a reenactment of the coronation ceremony for Edward VII and was required to have it ready by 26 June, the scheduled date of the coronation. Méliès and Urban, his English partner, visited Westminster Abbey in order to ensure accurate measurements. The sets were then built at Méliès' studios at Montreuil in France. Urban, the financing partner, insisted that his own camera be used during filming. The filming was completed on time, but the coronation was postponed until 9 August. The film was delayed as well, premiering as the headliner act at the Alhambra music hall in London, then beginning a long tour of the rest of the UK and the world.
The actor portraying the King was found working in a laundry at Kremlin-Bicètre, while the actress playing the Queen was a dancer from the Châtelet Theatre.
As a means of focusing on the solemnity of the occasion, the cast was chosen for their similarity to the actual figures they portrayed and not their degree of fame or talent. The man who enacted the part of the new King was, in real life, a washroom attendant.
The release of the film was delayed because the date of the coronation was changed. It opened simultaneously in London and Paris on August 9, 1902, when King Edward was crowned.