Warner Brothers Television Group executive vice president and C.M.O. Lisa Gregorian and senior vice president of marketing for Warner Brothers International Television Distribution Andrew Shipps oversaw the event, and the Warner Brothers Special Events team, helmed by Hillary Harris, produced it.

The bash began with guests gathering at the party’s entry for a ginza-inspired cocktail reception complete with digital-video mapping on the surrounding buildings. Next, the event transitioned, as Warner Brothers International Television president Jeffrey Schlesinger entered wearing an LED suit and electric guitar accompanied by six-foot-tall female models. In a staged skit, Alex Grossi from Quiet Riot interrupted to demonstrate how a real rock ‘n’ roll artist riffs, and Schlesinger reacted by pretending to blow up the back lot by way of a cartoonish TNT detonator. Projections changed to multiple explosions on buildings enhanced by sound culminating in rooftop pyrotechnics. The back lot fell into a three-second blackout as two didgeridoo performers elevated on second-story balconies performed. Projections of fire appeared on buildings coming out of windows and doorways, cuing over 100 entertainers in tribal costuming to creep into position.

Tribal-inspired elements of the main event included an area lined with tiki torches that marked an area for coal walking. The activity utilized more than two cords of wood, to keep the coals burning over a four-hour period. Guests who braved the attraction were given African-inspired necklaces as badges of courage upon completion, a foot bath in cooling buckets, and a flaming shot at a nearby bar.

Across the party space, an entertainer known as Tesla performed on an elevated 17-by-40-foot truss frame using electrical currents generated from a 15-foot tesla coil. Elsewhere, a giant 18-foot voodoo doll rolled into the party space surrounded by 20 African dancers and 12 drummers. Guests were invited to climb ladders and pin their messages on the doll before it was remotely detonated and burned for 10 minutes while dancers and drummers encircled it. Over on the main stage, Lucent Dossier performed back-to-back acts 40 feet above the ground aerially, as well traditional African dance numbers on the elevated stage floor. Another stage housed African drummers and Adaawa singers.

A third stage came in the form of a 30-foot-tall tree decor piece with a 30-foot leafy canopy, complete with truss that supported aerialists performing in moon, bird cage, and pod decor pieces throughout the evening. The illusion was that the performers were hanging from the branches rather than the truss.

At 11 p.m., the “Jungle Bar” opened within the largest interior façade on New York Street, where draped camouflage netting, vines, roots, and jungle greens covered the ceiling. DJ Choc spun while a Lucent Dossier performer costumed as a jungle queen swung from the vines supplying jungle juice guests who raised their glasses.

With so much fire in the party space—25 tiki torches, 500 candles, coal walking, and the burning voodoo doll—the Warner Brothers Special Events department worked closely with the special effects, fire, and safety departments. The team set up special areas outside of the party space for four fire acts to light and diminish flames. All sets, huts, moss, and furnishings were sprayed with flame retardant and checked three times with test burns by the lot’s fire department. The team also worked closely with Precision Weather to check the winds that were forecast, and placed the coal-walking station in an area that was sheltered from the wind and away from the main party space. A test burn three days out ensured there would be no flying cinders from the flaming doll.

The challenge for the production team was the logistics involved because the event made use of so many different areas on the Disney studio lot. Stage 1 hosted the presentation with seating for the entire group. Using the set from Body of Proof in Stage 2, the Russell Harris team designed a green room to hold 200 stars for the presentation. For the first time this year, Disney Media Distribution included a red carpet and invited outside media. This new element challenged the production team to strategically place the red carpet between the green room and presentation without disrupting the presentation flow.

Again this year, the group used the Legends Plaza in front of the Team Disney Building—with the goal of making the setup unrecognizable from past years’ programs. The solution: The production team created four-by-eight-foot light box with custom graphics, and guests were able to identify their favorite shows and have a one-on-one experience.

The focal point of the event design was the custom projections on the large Animation Building, which incorporated the talent loop from the presentation with a design that mirrored some of the event elements—bringing the whole look together.

“Once again, our international upfront was brought to another level,” Geraci said. “Despite hosting the event at the same venue each year, Russell Harris Event Group manages to make it feel new and different. Our event launches the annual Los Angeles screenings and it never disappoints.”

The program kicked off with cocktails in an area meant to evoke a central marketplace in ancient Alexandria, which would have been the hub of world commerce on the Nile during Cleopatra’s time. Various vendor stalls displayed wares like spices, wine, and beer. On the third floor, guests queued up to check out the new exhibit.

For dinner, the group moved to another view of ancient Egypt, with a meal meant to evoke a feast hosted by Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra. Contrasted against the cocktail setup meant to evoke a commoners’ setting, the dinner setup was meant to reflect the former queen’s enormous wealth. “We were joking that if anyone stood still long enough while working on this event setup, they would surely be painted gold,” Sion said. “Everything was gilded and bejeweled.”

Following dinner, a pop-up nightclub dubbed “Midnight at the Oasis” got a black and shiny gold color palette, with guests entering through a custom-designed golden pyramid by Rrivre Works and crossing over a faux Nile river from S.E.C. “We thoroughly enjoyed working with Universal Studios on selecting the perfect props for this event,” Sion said. “The scale of decor required to convey the grandeur and pageantry of this time period was easily found in their collection. We also found some wonderful items at Omega and History for Hire. While doing research for this gala, we invited all of our staff and vendors who work on this event annually to watch the classic movie Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor on our large IMAX screen and it was so inspirational.”

A live camel named Maggie held court near the Tesla Model S car raffle area, intended as an ironic display of two modes of transportation. The winner of the car raffle was Michael Rouse from Toyota. It was an apt twist: He was one of the first board members to purchase a raffle ticket back in January because he hadn’t been able to participate in previous years—since he’d donated the raffle cars on behalf of his organization for approximately the last decade prior to the Musk Foundation stepping in to donate the prize this year.

Also among the evening’s speakers was Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who lauded the Science Center and apologized for being underdressed, explaining he’d just come from a press conference in which he announced the alleged killers of two students from the adjacent U.S.C. campus had been captured, a moment of applause and relief from the community in attendance.

Beverages came from Turkish Coffee World and Somerston Wine Company.

AOO built the look for the event around a tangerine and cherry red color palette. Guest tables on the club floor were either rounds or king tables intermixed to allow for maximum seating. Shimmer tangerine or red linens draped tables, which were topped with modular centerpieces in both low-lying and taller abstract cylinders filled with orange and fuchsia amaryllis and hydrangea in complementing colors. Bronze crocodile Chameleon chairs and antique bronze-gold chargers rounded out the look. Floor-to-ceiling panels of bubbled and ice velvet white-on-white burnout sheer fabric framed the giant regency lamps, lending an intimate feel.

Dramatic lighting drenched the room in several different rich color palettes throughout the evening. White burnout fabric flats backed by floor-to-ceiling crystal curtains surrounding a 21- by 12-foot screen for multimedia presentations and IMAG decorated the stage. A floating logo backed an acrylic podium for speakers and the award presentation.

The foundation honored the Shahs with the Steven S. Cohen Humanitarian award, with Foster presenting it to the couple after surprising them with an impromptu performance from him and his friends, Anka and Buble.

Inside, the group’s creative services/art and advertising department designed a series of interior decor pull-up banners that were displayed in the windows, as well as the expansive wall mural timeline inside and all other exhibit-related decor. And the on-air group produced a video compilation of iconic show opens from series throughout Warner Brothers Television Group’s six-decade history, projecting it onto the interior lobby wall for the party. Tres L.A. catered, Town & Country handled the interior design, and Images by Lighting handled the lighting.

HBO and designer Billy Butchkavitz, who has been working with the network for 17 years, have achieved this feat in part through a dazzling projection wall and curtained perimeter that each year reflect a strikingly new theme.

Historically, the look has ranged from masculine and metallic, to whimsical and colorful—sometimes reaching to opposite extremes consecutive years to punctuate the vastly different aesthetic. In 2006, 700 guests of the network found golden and bronze colors dominating. Faux bronze reliefs covered the venue’s existing columns, reproductions of 1930s furnishings and art decked the space, and metal sculptures evoked Rockefeller Center’s Atlas sculpture. A subfloor covered half of the hotel’s pool, and a metal structure with a 10-foot ring of fire burning on top floated on the other half.

Such visual drama was nowhere to be found in 2008, when the Globes ceremony and its typical big parties were canceled in favor of a press conference during the Writers Guild of America strike.

The following year came another strike threat: the looming possibility of a SAG strike. Although there was private concern as to the fate of the January 2009 ceremony, organizers nevertheless maintained that the show would go on and prepared accordingly. In the end, HBO’s party was among those that brought the familiar grandeur back to the Hilton, with the line to get in from the Hilton’s lobby stretching 90 minutes at some points in the evening. Design inspiration that year came from the architecture of Luis Barragán and vintage ’60s textiles, the space awash in banana yellow and chocolate brown. Images by Lighting and Bart Kresa were responsible for the yellow-dominated lighting and projections that showed moving images within HBO’s logo against an animal-print backdrop.

With an informal theme of “sparkle, shimmer, shine,” the 2010 look included design elements inspired by the early space-age years and multiple James Bond movies. Decor pieces included Sputnik-inspired chandeliers and sculptures that decorated the party’s lounges and dining decks, and a 22-foot-high wall of copper paillette draperies that concealed the existing poolside cabanas and created a shimmering perimeter.

And the most recent installment took what might be considered the opposite design tack: The 2011 party drew its inspiration from the colorful vintage work of designer Emilio Pucci, whose designs from the late 1950s and early ’60s inspired a palette of aqua, teal, turquoise, avocado, chocolate, and lime: Color was the name of the game.

The party is well-known for its luxe, glittering look year after year, and this installment drew inspiration from the 1930s, with a nod to the modern as well. A custom, 100-foot-long diamond-shaped structure covered in iridescent black fabric served as the main ceiling treatment and a dramatic focal point.

To complement the ceiling, Event Eleven used hundreds of yards of champagne and gold fabric. Soft pewter upholstery covered tufted furniture.

Mirrored-top tables and bars along with massive urns and all-white Calla lilies contributed to the glam look and feel. Film reels served as apt decor pieces. Table lamps for bars, vintage ash trays, coasters, and palms rounded out the decor.

To start out the night, the pre-concert reception in BP Hall beckoned guests for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres amid blue-draped cocktail tables, gardenias floating in tall cylindrical vases, and a center bar topped with a white ostrich-plumed centerpiece. Attendees moved next to the concert, where final bows were accompanied by a confetti drop of blue and silver mylar.

Next, models in top hats, tails, and boutonnières and showgirls in glittering costumes greeted guests on the sidewalk ahead of dinner with trays of champagne cocktails and martinis. The supper-club-style dinner tent setup included palm trees framing the doorways and the two standing bars. Tables were set either in ivory or deep blue in damask patterns and decorated with silver lamps and gardenias or orchids with ostrich feathers. Classic film posters and mirrors hung above banquettes.

Tables were set with candy cigarettes, Rhapsody in Blue matchboxes, and pillow mints. Gray suede banquettes studded with rhinestones lined the room. The perimeter table centerpieces were tall cocktail lamps, custom-made for the event, with an abundance of gardenias. Phalaenopsis and ostrich feathers in silver bowls topped the other dinner tables. The bars were in gray tufted suede and adorned with Rhapsody in Blue ice sculptures.

The meal, which followed welcoming remarks by L.A. Phil president Deborah Borda, co-chairs David C. Bohnett and Joan Hotchkis, and Duadamel, came by way of white-gloved servers from Patina Catering. The meal consisted of crab and shrimp Louis, deconstructed beef Wellington, and individual baked Alaskas.

Entertaining guests during dinner was a Ziegfeld Follies-style dance number with a chorus of women in blue chiffon gowns with white ostrich fans, and their partners in white tie, top hats, and carnation boutonnières. Rounding out the entertainment, the band played music from the 1930’s mixed with modern dance music.

With a theme of “mod illusions,” the event employed lots of movement, projection, and other surprises—such as black-and-white-costumed performers who interacted with guests throughout the night in the convention center’s west hall. A 60-foot-wide elevated circular dance floor and revolving orchestra platform served as the centerpiece. Suspended over the center stage were tiered beaded formations meant to replicate the look of sea anemones. Performers, 42 in all, popped up everywhere: suspended overhead, encased within bars, and strolling among guests.

All-white blooms in custom-made vessels with metallic detailing came from La Premier, whose Kevin Lee and team used about 12,000 white calla lilies and 3,780 labor hours.

Grey Goose vodka was the spirits sponsor, hosting two ice bars and serving up its spirit in the orange-flavored signature cocktail “the Emmy,” which included Grey Goose L’Orange, Benedictine liqueur, ruby red grapefruit juice, agave syrup, ginger ale, and an orange wheel. Beaulieu Vineyard (back for its eighth year as Emmy celebration sponsor) poured more than 4,000 bottles of its wine.

For the 16th year, Patina Catering, helmed by Joachim Splichal, prepared the meal, which included a first course of Windrose Farm heirloom tomatoes, rosemary and cherrywood grilled asparagus, and fried gold potatoes; and an entrée of filet mignon, gratin of macaroni with Vermont white cheddar, rainbow baby carrots, cipollini onion, caramelized broccoli emulsion, and oxtail bordelaise. Duncan Hines returned for the second year as the official dessert sponsor, working on a creation with Patina Restaurant Group executive pastry chef Philippe Muze. Basic prep took place at Patina’s central catering kitchen over a five-day period, handled by a crew of 50 people per day.

The event’s significant environmental efforts included reusable and biodegradable items from Classic Party Rentals, Sequoia, Patina, and the convention center; replantable succulents from La Premier; and energy-efficient fixtures from Images by Lighting. Surplus food was donated to Midnight Mission.