The program was highly innovative in its use of a color-capable
VTR, a technology then in its infancy. As with the first major television program to be recorded on videotape—
The Edsel Show in 1957—this was a straight recording of a live performance with no editing. Early videotape use was confined largely to rebroadcasting programs from the east coast three hours later in the west, and was a cheaper, better-quality alternative to the film-based
kinescopes. The experimental low-band
quadruplex recording system in use was troublesome and hard to copy. Furthermore, early
video editing was a highly complicated matter that required the engineer to cover the two-inch tape with iron oxide solution to locate the magnetic tracks and then splice it with a razor blade. Although it was recorded live,
An Evening with Fred Astaire used a number of innovative production techniques that are now commonplace, such as
chroma key, and
dissolves between scenes. In 1988, the show earned a further technical Emmy Award for Ed Reitan, Don Kent, and Dan Einstein, who restored the original videotape, transferring its contents to a modern format. The machines used for recording the program were modified RCA B/W recorders, so it required tracking down the engineers who had been instrumental in the conversion. (The three had also restored the oldest color videotape known to exist, the dedication of
WRC-TV's new studio in
Washington, DC on May 21, 1958.) The show was rebroadcast twice, on NBC on January 26, 1959, and on
CBS on December 20, 1964. It was thus one of the earliest shows to be
rerun using color videotape recording. The 1964 rebroadcast used a different beginning and ending that eliminated the advertising for Chrysler; instead, the opening and closing dances were shown, uninterrupted. Until 2024,
An Evening with Fred Astaire was the oldest-known surviving color videotape of an entertainment program; 2024 saw the discovery and restoration of a videotape of the premiere of
Kraft Music Hall, aired 9 days prior to the Astaire program. ==Musical numbers==