Rainbow Dance was New Zealand-born animator Len Lye's second released film and one of the best examples of the experimental Gasparcolor process (an alternative to Technicolor developed by Hungarian Béla Gáspár that was also used in the 1930s by animators such as Oskar Fischinger). Commissioned as an advertising film for Britain's General Post Office, the film is also a playful exploration of the nature of cinema and a celebration of movement and color. The score was composed by the Australian concrete sound and experimental music pioneer Jack Ellitt.