According to one of the film's creators, Amos Poe, the footage was shot in August 1974, during the band's first or second performance at the CBGB's club.

The short, black-and-white clip has been known on the internet for years, and it has long been speculated that this could be the earliest moving image document of the Ramones. Poe has now confirmed that the scene was indeed filmed on August 16–17, 1974, which would make the recording one of the earliest visual records in the band's history. If this claim is accurate, Night Lunch captures not only the Ramones but also the earliest surviving moments of the birth of punk. The film was made by Amos Poe and Ivan Král and is often considered a precursor to the later cult classic Blank Generation (1976). The handheld, experimental style of Night Lunch already foreshadowed the raw, urban aesthetic that would be fully realized in the visual world of Blank Generation.



Another early concert recording of the Ramones, often cited as their very first, was made on September 15, 1974, also at CBGB's—just a month later.

And speaking of early recordings, the Ramones' backstory also includes a previously unknown 1973 concert recording that surfaced in 2022, featuring Joey Ramone as the singer of a band called Sniper.