What is the order of execution and redering of hooks and page components?
Consider looking at the X-ray module also. From its project page:

X-ray module gives a look at the skeletal structure of a site to help developers and site builders see how things work.
Features:

A technical summary is added to the help above the main administrative sections. For example, blocks, content types, and menus are summarized on Structure; themes on Appearance; etc.
A table of permission titles matched to their permission machine names.
A table of most* hooks which Drupal invokes (and when they are invoked) and that are available to be implemented.
The function and arguments producing each page you visit, displayed on that page.
The form ID of every form you see, displayed on the form.