Turandot was Puccini's final opera, and during the long and complicated process of editing and revising the work, he himself admitted that the prospect of finishing the opera was insurmountable. Indeed, he died before completing the final duet in the piece, and composer Franco Alfaro was engaged to complete it. The score uses dense orchestration, adventurous harmonies, and hints of pentatonic scales and eastern folk songs to paint a musical picture of ancient China.