At the dawn of the twentieth century, the innovations represented by the phonograph (in vogue at the time) and the cinematograph inspired both inventors and artistic personalities. While experiments in synchronism of sound and image multiplied, the actress and member of the Comédie Française, Marguerite Vrignault, dreamed of reproducing the famous acts of stage celebrities on the screen. This led to the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre enterprise and the creation of a company of which was registered on March 2, 1900. The technical aspects were supervised by Clément Maurice, a photographer, who had worked with the Lumière brothers at the Monplaisir factory.

Marguerite Vrignault designed a film studio where it was possible to record cylinders of live performances. This studio was located on the roof of the pavilion of the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre at the Exposition Universelle / 1900 Paris Exposition (located in the rue de Paris, door 43, Le pont des Invalides). Some of the sets and painted backgrounds of the studio are easily recognizable in the preserved films. One can also recognize the reproduction of the Théâtre de la Gaîté used for the duel scene in Cyrano and La Poupée.

While the union of the phonograph and the moving image was the main marketing thrust, it is interesting to note that not all of these films were accompanied by a phonograph. As far as we know, only the songs, operettas or operas, and the two scenes performed by Coquelin aîné [Coquelin the Elder] (Benoît-Constant Coquelin) were recorded. Certain scenes, such as Hamlet's duel, were accompanied by live Foley artists, recreating the clash of swords in synchronization with the picture. Other scenes were accompanied by an orchestra – notably, the dances and the pantomime from L'Enfant prodigue with music by André Wormser; La Korrigane, with music by Charles-Marie Widor, a ballet first performed at the Opéra on December 1, 1880; Le Rêve by Léon Gastinel, with choreography by Hansen, performed at the Opéra in June 1890; the Danses slaves and Caroles du Moyen-âge, with an arrangement by William Marie; and, finally, the Danse directoire and Gavotte, with music by Samuel Rousseau. This operetta is one of the few surviving films with an accompanying cylinder – as are an opera aria from Romeo and Juliet and two comedies (Cyrano's duel scene and Les Précieuses ridicules). The songs of Mily-Meyer, Pougaud and Jules Moy were also recorded for sound projection.

Although some of the films were shot around the same time as the initial screenings in April 1900, the newspaper Le Gaulois reported that several performances, notably the plays with Réjane, were filmed as late as September 1900.

Contemporary articles published in the press were often very positive and their accounts of the protagonists enthusiastic, yet the operating accounts suggest that the attraction was not a great success, in contrast to the Exposition as a whole.

However, the life of the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre would not end with the Exposition. From November 1900 onwards, Félix Mesguich, who had worked with Auguste Baron before and during the Exposition, toured Europe for three months with the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre through Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The attraction also toured to Sweden and around France. Marguerite Vrignault, who succeeded Paul Decauville as president of the company, installed the show at the Olympia, the Isola brothers' Parisian theatre, at the beginning of 1901. At the end of the year, the company Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre was dissolved, despite the attraction still touring, mainly abroad, for some months – according to Historian Thierry Lecointe, some films were screened until 1907.