	In 2001, the Maels were commissioned by a German broadcasting company to produce a song for "Günther Koch Revisited (Voll In Den Mann)", an album that featured samples of sports commentator Günther Koch set to music. The band's contribution, "Wunderbar", placed Koch's highly-spirited exclamations over an orchestral backing. The duo acknowledged that making the track provided them a blueprint for the direction that they would take on "Lil' Beethoven". As has been the case with each Sparks album since 1994's "Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins", the album was self-produced by the duo and recorded in Russell Mael's home studio.