As popular as many of Malcolm Arnold's 100 or so film scores have been, and as many portions of them have been published, only in two cases did Arnold himself adapt some of his film music for concert performance. One of those instances was the symphonic study Machines, Op. 30. The other was the rhapsody The Sound Barrier, an eight-minute orchestral work adapted from the 25-or-so minutes of music he wrote for the 1952 film The Sound Barrier (known in the United States as Breaking the Sound Barrier).

The Sound Barrier was the first of Arnold's three collaborations with director David Lean (the others being Hobson's Choice and The Bridge on the River Kwai). The film, done in a semi-documentary style, starred Ralph Richardson as John Richfield, a wealthy airplane manufacturer who becomes obsessed with developing a jet that can fly faster than the speed of sound. Many die in the attempt to break the sound barrier, including Richfield's son and son-in-law. He eventually hires the pilot husband of one of his daughter's friends, the sound barrier is broken, and Richfield is reconciled with everyone, including the daughter he'd alienated in his coldhearted pursuit of his dream.

In his orchestral rhapsody, Arnold encapsulates this action, employing themes and moods from the film score. Scherzo-like music with swirling strings, in a waltz tempo, and ascending motives from the piccolo evoke the open sky and Richfield's aspirations. A somber funeral march at the work's center symbolizes the loss of life. But the music turns triumphant at the end, with forceful brass figures and propulsive drums.

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