The 1969 film Hello, Dolly! featured elaborate and expensive sets designed by John DeCuir. The production won three Oscars, including one for DeCuir for his art direction. Some of the scenes were filmed in New York, while others were shot on the Fox Studio lot and various sound stages. For an interesting and detailed account of filming in each location, check out The Barbara Streisand Archives. 

While the movie was one of the highest-grossing films of the year, it still failed to recoup its cost of over $25 million. Fox had several other large-budget films, including Star! and Tora! Tora! Tora! that also underperformed that year, and consequently, the budgets for some of their upcoming productions were slashed. The 1970 film Beneath the Planet of the Apes was one such film, which saw its $5 million budget cut in half to only $2.5 million. Re-dressing an already existing set could save a great deal of money, so the expansive and highly detailed Harmonia Gardens set from Hello, Dolly! was heavily re-worked to create The Temple of the Bomb. It can be challenging to tell that the sets are the same, but some minor details still exist to link the two productions. For example, the original flourishes on the staircase are still visible in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. A broad view of the entire set reveals balconies and columns that align with the original Harmonia Gardens set.