On June 25, 2009, the world was informed of the death of one of its greatest music icons – Michael Jackson. Love him or loathe him, it would be difficult to dispute not only his obvious talent, but also his impact on modern culture as a whole.

After a 13 year break from touring, 50 year old Jackson was set to return for what he described, somewhat ominously prophetic in retrospect, as “the final curtain call”. It was to be a spectacular celebration of the man’s incredible career as the king of pop.

Just after the main rehearsal stage for the show was completed in LA, and the sets were being prepared to be shipped to the UK in readiness for his residency at the O2 Arena in London, Jackson moonwalked stage left off this mortal coil, allegedly from a lethal drugs cocktail.

Hey is that you up there Janet? I thought so. Seriously, stop stealing my moves, ok? Or there'll be no L-O-V-E between us, y'hear?!

Quite remarkably, Kenny Ortega – the director of all three High School Musical films – had been shooting a lot of raw footage of the This is It show during the rehearsal stage. What could easily be considered as cashing in on the superstar’s death, in truth turns out to be a fascinating insight into the creative process for a mega-scaled event.

His legions of fans should be more than happy with the inclusion of all his greatest songs, as well as some of his more recent, not-so-classic hits. And although there certainly is no great reveal – like finally seeing the wizard of Oz behind the curtain – there are still snapshots of the man behind the image.

For starters, some of the outfits MJ wears are the kind of things that most charity shops would turn away. If you didn’t know who he was, you would half expect him to ask you for spare change. But as the footage wasn’t meant for retail release – well, certainly not at the time, at least – it’s understandable that he would want to wear something comfortable on stage.

We also get to see him tell some of his crew off, with the kind of ferocity usually reserved for dogs when they lick their owner’s faces.

But what you really get from this film is that This is It was going to be quite a show, and that Michael Jackson was the consummate professional. His love for technology, particularly 3D, was going to feature heavily throughout, and was going to be delivered on a scale never seen before in a live show.

The extra bits on this two disc edition aren’t exactly revelatory, but are certainly the kind of filler to keep die-hard fans happy.

Regardless of his curious personal life, Michael Jackson – the icon – is quite possibly the last of his kind. It’s difficult to imagine anyone in the current world of pop who could even get close to attaining his level of fame, never mind take his crown as king.

This is It is the perfect bookend then to an incredible musical legacy. Whatever you thought of the man, there’s no denying that not only was he one of a kind, while he was here he put on one hell of a show.