Located in the west side of the Great Hall of the People, the National Grand Theater occupies an area of 118,900 sqm, and total building area is 165,000 sqm, including 105,000 sqm for main building and 60,000 sqm for underground ancillary facilities. The National Grand Theater has supporting facilities, including Opera House, Concert Hall, Theater, Art Gallery, Art Exchange Center and Video Store. The estimated total investment is about 2.688 billion with four-year construction period. The length, width and height of ellipsoid shell for steel structures of National Grand Theater is 212 m ,143 m and 45 m respectively, and total weight of steel structures is 6,950 t.

The structure includes top ring beam, long-axis beam mount, short-axis beam mount, long and short-axis circumferential continuous tied rods and spherical bearings, etc. The top ring beam is consisted of circular structure with ring beam for f1000'30 welded steel pipe, box beams, H-type frame girders. Long-axis beam mounts may assemble into folding frame beam by their narrow faces. For short-axis beam mount, they can be assembled and welded into folding frame beam by adding thick plates (60 mm) with over 24,000 spherical bearings. The total length of welding seam is up to 65, 000 m (equivalent to 65 km). The quality requirement for steel structure is unprecedentedly high for difficulty in fabrication.