Both Mr. Lasseter and Mr. Jessup said the design was meant to look as if cars built their environment, but they said the designers took care not to make the “car-ification” too bold and risk losing the connection to Big Ben. Mr. Lasseter also said he wanted to ensure that the city’s overcast skies had a prominent effect on the lighting.

Tokyo

One leg of the World Grand Prix is set in Tokyo, providing a lively design backdrop. For a scene involving a great deal of electronic billboards the filmmakers created a hybrid of the Ginza, Shibuya and Shinjuku districts of the city.

“We went all out on the number of signs,” Mr. Jessup said, winding up with around 300 in all. But the variety proved to be a challenge to the art department, as Mr. Jessup doesn’t speak or read Japanese. “We worked closely for months with a Japanese translator who would help make sure we were being accurate,” he said. “They all had car gags, which made it more complicated. We used kawaii style, that cute graphic-design style that is popular in Japan.”

Paris

The scenes in Paris provided several opportunities to show off that city’s beauty, including this shot, which Mr. Lasseter included as a gift to his wife, Nancy.

“That is our favorite spot in the world, right in the center of the Pont des Arts,” he said. “It started with this friend of ours who’s an animator in Paris. He invited us to his house for dinner, and he gave us walking directions that said, ‘Walk across the Pont des Arts bridge, stop in the middle, turn, kiss, continue on.’ And so we did it.” In Mr. Jessup’s concept art (inspired by research photos) and the finished frame, Mr. Lasseter and his wife are represented as Citroëns in love.

