In all of the film's theatrical releases,
Cecil B. DeMille appears in a short prologue in which he prepares the audience for what they will see, including the fact that the picture will concentrate heavily on the early years of Moses before he led the Hebrews out of Egypt; he also indicates the length of the film and the fact that it will be shown with an intermission. This prologue has always been cut in the film's network television showings.