The musicians got ahold of all the comic books they could find about the turtles, and looked through them all for clues about how to musically portray the turtles. He was given key points in the animation, and he was given the character traits for each turtle. Two days before the theme was needed, Lorre got a call telling him he had 48 hours to write the theme. He jokingly said that the turtles were going to compose it themselves, but shrugged off the task.
Chuck Lorre lobbied for the chance to compose the theme song. The series itself was immensely popular, running for 12 years, and then in re-runs, VHS, Laserdisc, DVD….you name it. “Turtles in a half shell!” Who could forget those lyrics? The theme song and series music were huge. Most notably, the 2007 Green Day cover version was used for The Simpsons Movie, and also was made available as a Green Day single. There have also been variations on the theme throughout the series run. Aside from its theoretical complexities, the Simpsons theme won the 2002 Favorite TV Theme National Music Award, and won TV Music Award from BMI for three years, including 119, 1998, and 2003. The collection of notes is often found in modal improvisation and is a major component of jazz harmony.
It is scale which is a seven note collection including C,D,E,F#,G,A, Bb, and is often described as an overtone or acoustic scale. The theme is composed in the Lydian dominant scale. Elfman timed it at 3 days, 2 hours, 48 minutes and 19 seconds. Elfman has remarked that it is the most popular he has created in his career. Matt Groening, who created the series, invited Elfman to compose a them in retro-style. Danny Elfman, amazingly talented composer for films, created theme for the animated series.