Weill's one-act opera buffa was premiered at the Neues Theater Leipzig on February 18, 1928, and last came out in Frankfurt together with Der Protagonist and Die sieben Todsünden on April 6, 1960, in a production by Arno Assmann and Tatjana Gsovsky. Orff's Story of the King and the Wise Woman in Twelve Scenes was premiered at the Frankfurt Opera House on February 20, 1943, and was last restaged here by Hans Hartleb on October 30, 1957. The libretto for Der Zar lässt sich fotografieren was written by Georg Kaiser, a playwright who was in great demand at the time. The text for Die Kluge, based on Grimm's fairy tale, was penned by the composer himself, who had previously created Carmina Burana, one of the most important choral works of the 20th century.
