Director Elijah Moshinsky composed many of the shots as live-action replicas of the paintings of Johannes Vermeer.
In line with Producer Jonathan Miller's aesthetic policy, Director Elijah Moshinsky used the work of artists as visual influence. Of particular importance was Georges de La Tour. Moshinsky showed some of de La Tour's work to Lighting Technician John Summers, as he wanted to capture the dark and light contrast of the work, as well as the prominence of silhouettes and chiaroscuro effects common in the paintings. Summers loved this idea and worked it into his lighting. For example, he lit the scene where the widow agrees to Helena's wager as if it was illuminated by a single candle. To achieve this, he used a projector bulb hidden by objects on the table to simulate the sense of a single bright light source.
With the exception of one shot, every shot in this movie is an interior. The only exterior shot is that of Parolles as he passes the women looking out the window in Florence. However, the shot is framed in such a way that none of the surroundings are seen.
For the shot where the King (Donald Sinden) and Helena (Angela Down) dance into the great hall, the scene was shot through a pane of glass which had the ceiling and walls of the hall painted on it, to give the appearance of a much larger and grander room than was actually present.