If you enjoyed last night's premiere of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., a big part of the reason why might be the swelling score composed by veteran Bear McCreary, already well-known to genre fans for his work on Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead.

In a new video titled "The Composer Initiative," McCreary takes fans behind the scenes on what it takes to bring the S.H.I.E.L.D. score to life. It's no small feat, either: According to the composer, he's conducting a full orchestra "every week."

"There are no corners cut here," he said. "This is as big of an orchestra as we'd have on a feature film, and we're doing it every week, which makes it very special. It's tremendous fun for me, because this is the kind of swashbuckling action-adventure scoring I grew up on."

For McCreary, the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. score hinges on one key factor: Agent Phil Coulson, fresh from "Tahiti" and ready for business.

"Clark Gregg has this gravitas that very few leading men have," McCreary said. "It's so smart to put him at the center of the show, even though — spoiler alert— he died in Avengers. He was really my first point of inspiration. I wrote a theme for the show, and it's also a theme for the group of protagonists we have, but it's really the Coulson theme. He's the leader, he's the one who brought this group together, and he's the one that guides them."

"It's always been a dream of mine to tell superhero stories," he added. "I've always loved the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I've always loved the projects that Joss Whedon has put out over the years. For me, this is like a dream project: it's all my favorite stuff coming together."

See more in the video below.