In the early 1970s, Welles filmed the Shylock monologue wearing a modern-day trench coat, although it is unclear how this footage would have been used. Several takes were made, and reports differ as to whether these were made in the Arizona desert, in France, or near Malaga, Spain (different takes may have been taken in each of these places).
Welles started work on the film in 1969. It was originally produced as part of his abandoned 90-minute television special, Orson's Bag, which was made for CBS; but later that year, with the project close to completion, CBS withdrew their funding over Welles' long-running disputes with US authorities regarding his tax status, and so Welles completed the film as an independent project.
Welles left all his materials from his incomplete film projects, including this one, to Oja Kodar, and she in turn donated these materials to the Munich Filmmuseum, which created the compilation Orson Welles's Shylock in 2001, integrating the first eight minutes of the film, and the Shylock-in-a-trench coat footage later shot by Welles. Additional elements are at the Cinémathèque Française, and in the hands of private collectors. The last two reels of the workprint have never resurfaced.
While actually completed, it is frequently cited as an unfinished film, though better described as a partially lost film due to the loss of film elements.