In the contemporary advertisements for Rear Window, the set looms large above the actors as the most prominent feature. In the publicity releases Paramount sent to the press, a description and history of the set is featured second only to a blurb about Hitchcock. In the black-and-white trailers made especially for television, there are no actors at all, only a slow pan around the courtyard set, accompanied by voice-over narration. In many ways, then, the fabulous set built for Rear Window is the “star” of the film, even more central to its success than James Stewart or Grace Kelly. It certainly cost more than the actors: Designing, constructing, dressing, and lighting the set accounted for over 25 percent of the total cost of the picture, compared to 12 percent for the cast. Robert Burks, Rear Window's director of photography, did not exaggerate when he called the undertaking the biggest production on a Paramount lot since the days of Cecil B. DeMille.

Given the significance of the set for the film, it is only fitting that this chapter reflect that importance by providing an “architectural” history of the project. The following, therefore, is something of a backstage tour of the production, an inspection of the nuts and bolts, the girders and planks with which Rear Window was “built.” This chapter describes the evolution of the production from the ground up: the acquisition of the property that provided its foundation, the design of the film, the construction of the set, the principal photography, the final touches, and the window dressing.