Though Ira (and George) met Weill in Berlin in 1928, it was not until well after George's death that he and Ira worked together on anything (Lady in the Dark, 1941). In 1945 they did the songs for a movie called "Where Do We Go From Here?" which included the title song as well as five other musical numbers.

The plot centers around a patriotic young man who is 4-F (unfit for service) but yearns to do his part for the war effort. He becomes involved with a magic lamp and an inept genie who puts him into weird situations such as Washington's army at Valley Forge, and on board Columbus' ship. Weill was proud of the score because he felt it was well integrated into the story rather than just songs inserted here and there, and said it was "frankly an experiment in opera form."