was created in Mahabalipuram and shot at a area of land in which a wall was created near Muttukadu. Six machines, which generated high waves, were imported from the US, for a total cost of . The film's final shoot occurred on 8 October 2007 at Uthandi, a coastal village. Music The film was originally announced with A. R. Rahman as the music director of the film. However he opted out of the project owing to schedule clashes. Kamal, who quickly wanted the tunes, roped in Himesh Reshammiya, for whom Dasavathaaram became his Tamil film debut and only Tamil film to date. The background score was composed by Devi Sri Prasad. As the film demanded a "stylish and western" quality of music, two reels of music were initially composed and tested. A two-and-a-half-minute theme song was later composed for the promos. The background music in the second half consisted of extensive usage of violins and chorus and the entire score for the film was recorded over a period of one month, in Chennai. The soundtrack was released on 25 April 2008 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, which became the largest audio launch for a south Indian film. Prominent film personalities across the world attended the event, with Jackie Chan, in his first such appearance, being Hollywood's ambassador for the function. Other prominent regional Indian artistes such as Amitabh Bachchan, Mammootty, Vijay and Madhavan attended the launch. The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, attended the event. The event saw overcrowding and the Chennai Police employed lathi charge on the streets to regain control. The event hosted by Shobana, was attended by all the artistes of the film apart from producer Venu Ravichandran, who avoids to attend public events. The soundtrack album was acquired by Sony BMG, purchasing their first Tamil film, for a record of . Behindwoods wrote, "In spite of donning many roles Kamal Hassan has used only six songs for the movie. So the story could be expected to be a tightly edited one and should not drag. Though there are no duets here, the songs themselves could become hits if the storyline packs a punch. One must add that the songs have a decidedly 'Hindi flavour'." and rated the album 3 out of 5. Indiaglitz summarised, "Dasavatharam music is here to rock.". Rediff, however, gave 2 out of 5 stars and concluded that