Rocketman's flying abilities were created by running a life-sized dummy along hanging from invisible wires. Special effects men Howard and Theodore Lydecker would place one end of the wires atop a hill, and the other in a valley, then let the dummy slide smoothly down to create the illusion of flight - once the film was sped up and sound added, it proved quite effective. Putting the dummy on facing backwards, so that it slid down feet first, and then printing the film backwards, gave them their take-off sequences.