Explore the making of the groundbreaking documentary about the artist's towering achievements, including behind-the-scenes footage filmed during production. Directors Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon discuss their creative process and reveal the challenges of telling this 500-year-old story for today's viewers.

Leonardo works as a military engineer, designs fanciful flying machines, studies light and shadow, investigates gravity, dissects cadavers, and pens treatises on a vast array of subjects, all while seeking the perfect patron. In Florence, Milan, Rome, and finally, France, he pours the sum of his scientific and artistic knowledge into a portrait that would become the most famous painting on earth, the Mona Lisa.

Leonardo da Vinci grows up in a Tuscan village surrounded by nature, then moves to Florence, where the Renaissance is in full bloom, to apprentice as an artist and craftsman. He shows extraordinary talent but, at times, struggles to finish commissions. Later, he joins Duke Sforza's court in Milan, writes treatises, and paints a monumental fresco depicting the Last Supper.