The behind the scenes story on how Prince & the 100rd made Super Bowl history

Nearly 14 years ago, on February 4, 2007, Prince, along with the FAMU Marching 100, performed arguably one of the best Super Bowl halftime performances in Super Bowl history.

After having, in the past, been disinterested in performing in a Super Bowl halftime show, in 2006, Prince expressed interest to Don Mischer, of Don Mischer Productions, the executive producer and director of Super Bowl XLI halftime. Mischer then visited with Prince in Los Angeles. During this meeting, Prince and three members of his background band New Power Generation performed for the executives, which convinced the executives that he would the proper act to perform at the upcoming Super Bowl's halftime show. 

Mischer and company, announced Prince as the Super Bowl halftime performer on December 10, 2006.

In late 2006, representatives of Prince reached out to Dr. Julian White, then the director of the FAMU band and managed to get the band to agree to performing in the show, after a bit of wrangling with the former interim president. The involvement of the marching band was largely kept a secret, with New Power Generation keyboardist Morris Hayes having later shared that he did not know of their inclusion until the first rehearsal that included them.

Members of the marching band were not told themselves until roughly a month before the show that they would be performing in the halftime show.

One of the ideas Mischer contributed was to have the marching band adorned with illuminated tape, so that they would be more visible. 

One of the centerpiece visual effects utilized involved projecting Prince's silhouette onto a large screen that he stood behind. Air was utilized to make the screen stand erect. This effect was one that Don Mischer had first utilized for the 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. 

Much of Prince's rehearsals for the performance were in Las Vegas, where Prince had a residency show. They used tape to outline the shape of the stage, as they did not have the actual stage available to them for their Las Vegas rehearsals.  In the days before the show, Prince and his band rehearsed in a tent adjacent to the stadium.  

Prince and his supporting performers, including the Marching 100, only had a single rehearsal on the stadium's field. 

During his pre-performance joint press conference with national anthem performer Billy Joel, which halftime and national anthem performers conventionally hold, rather than taking questions, Prince gave the press a mini-concert.  

Prince, and the FAMU Marching 100, went on to perform a 12 minute set.

With the Super Bowl XLI show in 2007, the Marching 100 can count three Super Bowl halftime appearances (1969, 1971, and 2007), more than any other college marching band.  The 100rd can also credit several other Super Bowl pregame show appearances. 

( based on accounts from Wiki )