 Sir William Walton (qv) was first hired to write the score, which  would have been his last. Because of his advanced age, he turned to  friend Sir Malcolm Arnold (qv) for assistance with the  orchestrations (which Arnold supplied, as well as writing additional  cues). Producer Harry Saltzman (qv) rejected the score, stating it  wasnt long enough. Ron Goodwin (qv) was hired to write a new  score, but when told he would be replacing one of Waltons, his  first reaction was, "Why?" Goodwin eventually wrote the replacement  score, but Laurence Olivier (qv) threatened to have his name  removed from the credits if none of Waltons original was used. For  this reason, Waltons original music was kept for the "Battle in the  Air" sequence towards the end of the film.