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.