The visual direction of the "Ave Maria" segment, per Disney's instruction, was to bring the background artwork to the forefront. And yet, despite its minimal action, the segment proved to be one of the biggest challenges in the film. For one thing, the slowness and reduced scale of the foreground figures (the monks/nuns/etc.) actually made them much harder to animate. In animation, slower movement requires more frames per second to achieve persistence of vision and to avoid "strobing". But the difficulty of animating the subtle movement of the robed pilgrims pales in comparison to the more pressing spatial challenges of the sequence, innovatively filmed as one long continuous take. Namely: (1) the massive lateral scale of the procession; and (2) the simulated depth of field required by the final, protracted zoom. However, Disney animators had a revolutionary piece of technology at their disposal: the multiplane camera technique. By moving forward and through the world, objects appear to grow and shrink in size relative to your position. The multiplane camera solves the problem by splitting a field of view (a.k.a. the area that is visible through a camera) into different planes for the foreground, middleground, and background. These planes, or levels, are typically layers of painted glass, each with a different element of an animated frame. The multiplane camera allowed artists to create the illusion of three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional animated setting. This in turn allowed them to simulate tracking shots and zooms by moving the various planes in relation to the camera so as to respect optical principles like parallax With limited animation in the traditional sense (save the consummate long-shot of the pilgrims) the sequence is predominantly a multiplane effect constituted of long takes and a series of hazy cross-dissolves. Supported by a custom-built crane, the studio's horizontal multiplane camera was built to photograph 3 x 4-foot planes of painted glass. These were mounted on moveable stands, like Baroque set dressings, and moved as required to produce the illusion of a tracking movement. The "Ave Maria" sequence concludes with one of the most elaborate single shots in animation history. The final shot of the sequence, and incidentally of the film itself, ran for two-hundred and seventeen feet of film, the longest shot in animation at that time. The single zoom begins in darkness and approaches a sliver of vertical light, which gradually reveals itself as the mouth of a clearing overlooking a wide valley. As John Culhane details in his book Walt Disney's Fantasia, the scene was filmed continuously by a crew of nine technicians over six full days and nights. A special camera rig was specifically constructed for the final shot and spanned the forty-five-foot wide soundstage. The sequence had to be shot three times. Not because the animators were exactly satisfied with the final take, but because, quite simply, it was the final take out of necessity. During the first take, the technicians accidentally used an incorrect lens, capturing subjects beyond the glass planes. With limited time left before the premiere, the technicians began working on the second take. Three days into the reshoot, an earthquake hit. Unable to determine if the earthquake misaligned the equipment, the take was scrapped. The morning after the earthquake, the animators tried again, and the third time proved the charm. On November 13, 1940, an audience at New York City's Broadway Theatre saw the first-ever screening of Fantasia, unaware of how close they came to not seeing the completed film.

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