Born in Greece, Nicholas Georgiadis trained as a painter and architect in Athens and New York, then came to England to study stage design at the Slade School of Art. There he met Kenneth MacMillan who was looking for a designer for his ballet Danses Concertantes (1955). Macmillan commissioned him to provide the set and costumes and began a professional association which produced a dozen ballets and lasted until MacMillan's death in 1992. Georgiadis collaborated with other choreographers: for Rudolf Nureyev he designed one-act ballets and the major works, Romeo and Juliet, The Prince of the Pagodas, Manon and Mayerling. He also created sets and costumes for opera and the theatre. Georgiadis passed on his knowledge by teaching design at the Slade School, working there for 30 years, and he was one of the founders of the Society of British Theatre Designers in 1971.

Noctambules was one of Georgiadis's early works, created for Sadler's Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet) in 1956. It was choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to music by Humphrey Searle. The ballet is a fantasy in which a hypnotist gives a poor performance and angers his audience. To demonstrate his powers he hypnotises them all, with the result that a soldier's dreams come true, the rich mix with the poor and a once-beautiful woman becomes lovely again. But all ends in disillusion.

The costume design is for three of the rich girls. At this period Georgiadis was using vivid colours. Greens,violets and blues featured prominently in his work. For audiences used to the subdued shades popular in 1950s stage productions the effect was startling. Georgiadis's work was to be highly influential.