The world premiere of the ballet Nureyev took place at the Bolshoi Theatre on the 17th of December 2017. It was the second production, created by composer Ilya Demutsky and choreographer Yuri Possokhov. Two years earlier, they presented A Hero of Our Time, that became an important event in theatre life and continued the tradition of large-scale ballets.

During the 20th century, ballet outside the USSR was drawn to one-act, plotless performances. That standard was established due to the famous enterprise of Diaghilev. At the beginning of the 21st century the situation has started to change. Once again audiences felt the taste for a large performance, with narrative and dramatic situations, strong passions and powerful set design. However, that tradition appeared to have been lost over a hundred years of absence. The Bolshoi Theatre, where it had long been kept by Yuri Grigirovich, became one of the first to approach the recreation of the genre.