The first collaboration between Friedrich Hollaender and Marlene Dietrich had already shown what a good team the two made: The Blue Angel (Der Blaue Engel - 1930), was an international success for both the actress and the composer. Dietrich subsequently moved to Hollywood, Hollaender became a busy film composer. After the Nazis came to power he, too, went into exile in America where he was able, thanks to his contacts, to resume working again immediately. His very first project, The Song of Songs (Das hohe Lied, 1933), reunited him with Marlene Dietrich, and he also wrote the music for the comedy Desire (Perlen zum Glück, 1936) in which the German actress starred alongside Gary Cooper.

The film contains a scene in which the elegant fraudster Madeleine sits at the piano and sings for the totally clueless Tom who is in love with her. Previously her accomplice Carlos (John Halliday) performed some magic tricks. The plot therefore remained as planned, whereas Hollaender's idea (as outlined in this letter) of giving Marlene Dietrich (who preferred to sing while standing or walking) more freedom, was not acted upon.

The last film on which the actress and composer collaborated was Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair (Eine auswärtige Affäre, 1948). The songs "Black Market", "Ruins of Berlin" and "Illusions" composed for this film became (along with the hits from the Blue Angel "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt" and "Ich bin die fesche Lola") part of the standard repertoire of Marlene Dietrich.