This video is not strictly speaking an Iron Maiden video, but an authorised video released as part of a "Classic Albums" series, along with with Judas Priest's British Steel, Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland and many others, Metal-related or not. It tells the story of Iron Maiden up until 1982 and the elaboration of the Number Of The Beast album. It is a pretty informative video, as the story is told by the various actors who were involved at the time – not only the band members themselves, but also famous people who, in one way or another, contributed to the legend of Iron Maiden: Rod Smallwood, Malcolm Dome, Mick Wall, Martin Birch, and many others.

This document is, however, only for the purists and die-hard Iron Maiden fans, and those who are not so much into musical history may find it a bit boring. I personally enjoyed it very much and I would be interested to see such videos on other Maiden albums. The back of the DVD box has a little promotional blurb that is not without any interest:

„ 1982 was a momentous year for Iron Maiden. Following the addition of brilliant new vocalist Bruce Dickinson, their third album The Number Of The Beast was released to universal acclaim from both critics and rock fans. The album topped the UK charts for 2 weeks, launched them into the US Top 40 for the first time, and invaded the Top 10 album charts worldwide achieving a plethora of gold and platinum awards. The Number Of The Beast is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time, including, along with demonic title track, such classic metal anthems such as Run To The Hills, Hallowed Be Thy Name, The Prisoner and Children Of The Damned.

This exclusive film tells the full and vibrant story behind the making of the album. It is packed with exclusive interviews with the entire band – Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray – with the first interview for many years with drummer Clive Burr who left the band after the massive Beast on the Road World Tour. Producer Martin Birch takes us through the original multi-track tapes and long time manager Rod Smallwood adds his own anecdotes from that period. Current drummer Nicko McBrain, who at that time played with the support band, adds his tales from the road and guitarist Adrian Smith contributes exclusive acoustic guitar renditions of Children Of The Damned and Number Of The Beast.

Featuring masses of previously unseen footage from the 1982 Hammersmith Odeon show on Beast on the Road PLUS an exciting preview of the forthcoming state of the art DVD shot at Rock in Rio in January 2001, this programme provides a unique insight into how the Number Of The Beast propelled Iron Maiden into international superstar status and came to be a Classic Album“

The video reached No. 9 in the Norwegian DVD Charts, and was certified Gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association.

It was released in DVD, VHS and UMD formats, and featured subtitles in six different languages, Dutch, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and French.

* Former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr used the release to publicly announce that he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. After finding out about Burr's condition through the DVD itself, the band helped set up the Clive Burr MS Trust Fund, for which they raised money through several charity concerts and a live release of the "Run to the Hills" single.  Burr died on 12 March 2013