Enrico Sabbatini spent over three years designing over 4,000 unique costumes and 3,500 pairs of shoes. His research required two trips to China where he visited museums and talked with historians in an attempt to re-create the 13th century before returning to Rome with thousands of square feet of silks, cottons and cashmeres and more than 1,000 furs. The embroideries were done in China, the hand-hammered armor was made in Italy and the jade was hand-carved for the Mongol belts and the breastplate of Kublai Khan. Even the undergarments were authentic. All the costumes were of museum quality and were specially presented at the Washington Textile Museum, where among the highlights was a ceremonial robe ornately embroidered with dragons in gold leaf at a cost of $7,000.