A big number of extras is part of "La Bohème"'s cast.

"The time that Debussy have referred [and which is the time of the opera] is the reign of Luís Felipe (who is the monarch nominally cited in the work), between 1830 and 1848, when [Henry] Murger's youth happened and when he, with strong biographical elements, published his 'Scènes de la Vie de Bohème' initially as a newspaper series, between 1845 and 1849. The success of the work generated a theatrical adaptation in partnership with Louis Thèodore Barriére, in 1849, and the publication of the work in a book format, in 1851." (Perpetuo)