The album cover was designed by Hugh Syme. Anthem Records did not cover the entire bill (cost $9,500), so the band had to pay for the rest.

The cover is a triple entendre; the front depicts (1) movers who are carrying pictures, the side shows (2) people crying because the pictures passing by are emotionally 'moving', and the (3) back has a film crew making a motion picture of the whole scene.

The cover was photographed outside the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in Toronto.

The pictures that are being moved are a painting that shows Joan of Arc being burned at the stake, one of the Dogs Playing Poker paintings entitled 'A Friend in Need' and the band's Starman logo featured on the reverse cover of 2112 (1976).

The film crew on the back cover actually shot the scene, from which a single frame was used for the cover. This was revealed to Rush concertgoers several years later when the still image was shown on the stage projector.

Hugh Syme narrates the creation of Rush’s ‘Moving Pictures’ iconic album artwork.

Rush was a Canadian rock band formed in 1968 in Toronto. The band went through several line-up configurations before arriving at its classic power trio line-up:
Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson.

Rush were known for their musicianship, complex compositions and eclectic lyrical motifs drawing heavily on science fiction, fantasy and philosophy. The band's style changed over the years, from a blues-inspired hard rock beginning to progressive rock, then a period marked by heavy use of synthesizers, before returning to guitar-driven hard rock at the end of the 1980s. Their final work from 2012, marked a return to progressive rock.

The members have been acknowledged as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments.

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