The early-1950s celebrity status of Richard Rodgers and collaborator Oscar Hammerstein II isn't easily overstated. The pair's longest-running hits in New York—Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), and The King and I (1951)—spawned profitable touring companies in the US and productions abroad, and the shows’ original cast recordings were bestsellers. Wide-screen Hollywood films of these four musicals, too, would appear even before Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1959 stage triumph with The Sound of Music. That same era, however, saw commercial TV's rapid expansion threaten motion pictures and the theater, with many Hollywood and Broadway stars determined to boycott the small screen. In that context, we may appreciate the public's excitement when NBC announced in September 1951 that Richard Rodgers would compose music for its upcoming WWII “Navy Project” TV series. Rodgers told the press he was uncertain how much music he’d have to create; asked to compare the assignment with songwriting for a new Broadway show, he replied, “If it's that much work, I’m in trouble already.” Rodgers thereupon received some Navy films from NBC to audition, allowing him to, as he put it, “get a feeling for it.” In late 1951 he was distracted by the London production of South Pacific and then a Pal Joey revival in New York, but in January 1952—the month Bennett's hiring was announced—Rodgers advised NBC of his readiness to begin Victory composing. His 1975 memoir didn't mention his stipulation to NBC that Bennett be engaged, though Victory's assistant producer Donald Hyatt confirmed it on several occasions:

Rodgers completed his first three themes in early 1952 and presented them to Bennett for the first two episodes then ready for scoring: EP1 (score recorded 12 and 20 March 1952), and EP3 (recorded 20 March and 2 April).