Director Adrian Wills will tell you that he basically embezzled All Together Now, the film that shows at the Documentary Film Festival in Dunedin on April 4 at 3.45pm.
The documentary, which follows the drama-soaked creation of Love, a dazzling Cirque du Soleil show based on Beatles music, winds up looking, he says, "like we had all the access in the world."
In fact, "what it is, is stolen moments."
Wills was brought in just as rehearsals were getting under way for the collaboration.
The filmmaker had produced short documentaries on previous Cirque shows and was wrapping up another project when an executive from the innovative Canadian circus company called saying, he recalls, "Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison are coming into Cirque, and we need someone to film it."
The initial idea for Love was born of the friendship between Beatles guitarist George Harrison and Cirque founder Guy Laliberte.
Harrison died in 2001, before the show evolved into anything more than an idea, but his memory served as the catalyst to produce it.
All Together Now cuts into the heart of the production process rather than focusing on the show's technical, physical flourishes (of which there are many).
Beatles songs are sacred to many, including the remaining members of the band and the widows of those who have died.
Any attempt to alter or interpret, as was clearly the intention, is harshly scrutinised, if not vetoed outright.
After one early rehearsal, Wills' cameras catch Harrison and Ono giving the show's director critical notes about the way their husbands' songs were being portrayed.
"There was a nervousness about, `Well, what's it gonna be?'," said Jonathan Clyde, a producer with Apple Corps, the company that handles everything Beatles.
"Cirque and Apple are very independent companies not used to giving up control over anything. There was apprehension over how this was going to go."
All Together Now captures the ensuing creative clashes and softer emotional arcs that took place throughout the production of Love, which is still on stage in Las Vegas.
Sir George Martin, the music producer known fondly as the "Fifth Beatle," comes in to remix and arrange the show's music.
Martin's son, Giles, had spent much of his life distancing himself from his father's great shadow, but as the elder Martin's hearing starts to fail, the two become enmeshed partners, protecting and perfecting the songs.
The challenge for Wills and his team was to document the drama as it was unfolding, while pushing for access and interviews that would elevate the film beyond a simple "making of" video.
Eventually he talked to Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Ono, Harrison and both Martins.
And Wills used every drop of insight he was given by the band's inner circle.
Of the 16 minutes he was allowed to speak with Ringo Starr, 12 of them appear in the final cut.
"We knew the film was going to be emotional. We wanted it to be as intimate as possible," the director explains.
"I remember after the interview, Yoko Ono turned to me... She said, `Be kind.' The inference was, `be respectful,' you know. I said, `We're not making a commercial, we're making a movie. But I'll be truthful to the way I'm seeing it'."
Much of that truth is presented through Wills' "fly on the wall" stolen moments.
Artfully turning a camera on the rapt face of Dhani Harrison, George's doppelganger son, as he sees his father's picture illuminated during a dress rehearsal.
Zooming in on Giles Martin proudly wrapping an arm around his father's shoulders.
McCartney whispering something to Starr on opening night.
"I was sitting right next to Ringo, which was great," McCartney later told Wills. "Because I just kept leaning over saying, `What a [expletive] great band we were'."
