When making an animated film about an historic event, animators must decide how realistic and true to life the film is to be. In Balto, Director Simon Wells choose to represent the highest level of realism possible. To achieve this, Wells brought real huskies into the studio for the artists to practice on, shot footage of sled teams racing through snow and down hills, and used vintage film of Balto and his musher, Gunnar Kaasen, as they rode into Nome in 1925.

Balto contains the greatest and most varied use of snow of any animated movie. The myriad of effects ranging from blizzards to flurries were achieved with advanced computer techniques. After the characters drawings are scanned and colored, the effects, such as snow, are added frame by frame.

Equally as visually impressive as the snow were the backgrounds. These images must be colored individually like the characters themselves. In Balto , however, oil paints were used instead of ink. While more time consuming, the effect of oils provided a stunning backdrop for the story.