A day behind the scenes of 'Dancing with the Stars,' TV's biggest celebrity dance competition

America's most-watched dancing competition gave Business Insider a behind-the-scenes look at one of its biggest episodes of the season, Disney Night. An ode to the countless fantastical characters created by the ABC parent company, Disney Night featured the competitors and professionals t

Here's what it takes to put together TV's most popular live dance competition:

7: 45 a.m. PT – It may still be dark outside, but the lights are on at the "DWTS" studio at Hollywood's CBS Television City. The crew is already hard at work setting up the "DWTS" stage.

8:54 a.m. PT – Inside the immense wardrobe bungalow at "DWTS."

9 a.m. PT – It's always packed in the hair and makeup room.

There can be as many as eight hair and makeup artists at work on "DWTS." Women typically arrive around 9 a.m. and can spend as many as four hours in the chair. Men are way faster, though Sungkur said that "s

10:15 a.m. PT – Dress rehearsal, one of the most important things to happen on the day of a live show, carries on.

11:01 a.m. PT – The view of country singer Bonner Bolton and his pro partner Shana Burgess during dress rehearsal.

1:03 p.m. PT – Alfonso Ribeiro receives some stage directions during dress rehearsal.

Season 19 winner Alfonso Ribeiro prepares to lead a dance number that featured all the competitors, including a few Disney characters.

1:04 p.m. PT – Head choreographer gives Minnie Mouse some choreography direction.

While the pros are busy choreographing with their star partners, the big group performances on the show are the responsibility of Emmy-winning head choreographer Mandy Moore. On this special theme night, she also had a few other big stars from Disney that needed her direction.

"Mandy Moore works on the spectacular opening that has become such a staple of the show and these opening numbers with the entire the cast," Sungkur said. "Making them distinct and feel different is her forte. She is such a creative genius when it comes to putting together these routines and coming up with the creative. They work on these routines probably for weeks in advance leading up to the show. But the day after the live show, Mandy will work with all the couples and celebrities for about four or five hours piecing together the creative that she's been working on prior to that and building it out. She comes to rehearsal later on in the week."

1:13 p.m. PT – The entire cast assembles for dress rehearsal of the night's big group number.

Delivering more spectacular live performances than before has become a huge element of the reality dancing competition's longtime success.

"We made a decision to really invest in our live performances," Sungkur said. "Part of the attempt to keep the show fresh was to make sure that we were constantly moving forward in the ambition and the scale of the live performances. We've added more varied lighting, all different staging elements, so that we can really make each performance distinct and really reflect the narrative of the story in the dance and give the audience a variety of performances. It makes the show feel revitalized and fresh."

3:30 p.m. PT – The show has started to bring in that night's live audience.

With a capacity for 838 fans in the "Dancing with the Stars" studio, one can understand what a big feat it is to get them settled in their seats for the show.

"We have an audience coordinator who gets requests for people to come to the show," Sungkur explained. "I think what people love about the show is it's an experience in itself and you can see the amazing atmosphere, which is unlike any other show. There's a party on the dance floor and the audience will actually be on the dance floor that a celebrity will be on. The audience is such a huge part of the show. We change the numbers every season, but the audience is hugely important and we make sure that they leave with a smile on their faces."

5:00 p.m. PT – Showtime! Pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy and his partner, Fifth Harmony member Normani Kordei, performing.

5:59 p.m. PT – Inside the belly of the beast: the control room.

There are 18 cameras rolling during the live show. And making sure the viewers have the best seat in the house comes down to director Phil Heyes.

"The atmosphere in the control room is electric," Sungkur said.

Heyes is in constant contact with the camera operators, the stage manager, the producers, and the technical team.

"On live TV, there's no second chances," the executive producer added. "There's a total state of excitement, adrenaline is always running throughout veins throughout the show. Some of the most exciting things that happen are the ones you can't predict and so we're always looking to those special moments that people will be talking about the next day. Those few hours of high-octane live TV is why we do the job. We thrive on it and love it. That atmosphere is why we keep going."

6:21 p.m. PT – In a race against the clock, the judges have to determine their scores and communicate them to the production staff.

In under three minutes after the dancers complete the performances, there's a mad dash to communicate the judges' scores to production. Sungkur explained the harried process:

"The judges have a piece of paper on their desk. After each dance they'll write down their score. The piece of paper is then run frantically to the control room. Standards and practices from ABC then verifies that everything is fair and checks those scores, and we then go to the judges to reveal their scoring and we double-check that the score they hold up reflects the score they wrote down."

6:21 p.m. PT – The crew has to pull off pretty epic set changes over the course of a commercial break.

7:00 p.m. PT – Disney Night doesn't end with a happy ending for "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne and her partner Gleb Savchenko.

But while it's time for the competitors and the audience to say goodbye to the eliminated couple, there's still much to do after the cameras stop rolling.

While the stars move on to speak with press and then to have their makeup removed, the crew continues the day's dizzying pace.

A day behind the scenes of 'Dancing with the Stars,' TV's biggest celebrity dance competition

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