While the original story called for 6 unique "chambers" of varying themes and colors (which the Red Death walks through, and were Prince Propsero rushes hurriedly in pursuit), limitations in both budget and the live sets prevented these from being shown in the film. However, they are still mentioned in the narration.
This film was entirely a student production, created, managed and directed by Mat Van Rhoon during his time as a student at the University of Technology, Sydney. A such, it was entirely self-funded.
The inspiration to adapt this story into a short film came from the director's long-standing respect for Poe's short story, which the director first heard in the 1994 PC Video Game 'Under a Killing Moon' (where the poem served as an over-arching theme for the plot of the game).
Since being published online, this short film has been used by teachers as part of the English curriculum in many high schools across the USA and UK, to help students in their studies and understanding of Poe's literature.
The film was shot over a period of 3 consecutive days, and utilized only 2 locations. The exterior shots were at the University of Sydney, and the interiors were shot at the State Theater in the city of Sydney, Australia. Shortly after the production, the State Theater changed its policy to no longer allow filming to be performed inside the structure in an effort to preserve the internal architecture (with only some exceptions for high-profile productions). The filming and production of Masque of the Red Death had no bearing on this decision.