Alexandre Rachmaninoff, the composer's grandson, sold the rights to his grandfather's story to Prelude Features, which is producing the film. He also passed along previously unknown details of Rachmaninoff's life that he learned from the composer's widow, Reuters says.

Australian director Bruce Beresford, best known for Tender Mercies, Crimes of the Heart, and Driving Miss Daisy, will direct. Executive producer Edward R. Pressman (Reversal of Fortune, Bad Lieutenant) told Reuters that Beresford, who explored the life of Alma Mahler in his 2001 Bride of the Wind, is a "real classical music aficionado."

The film's music will be drawn from Rachmaninoff recordings on the EMI label, which will release the soundtrack album.