Short answers, pulled from the story.
Recording began on the 24th of August 1975 at Rockfield Studio 1 near Monmouth South Wales after a three-week rehearsal at Penrhos Court near Kington Herefordshire. The entire piece took three weeks to record and in some sections featured 180 overdubs.
Bohemian Rhapsody became the 1975 UK Christmas number one holding the top position for nine weeks. It is also the only single to have been Christmas number one twice with the same version when re-released as a double A-side single with These Are the Days of Our Lives in 1991 staying at number one for five weeks.
The video was directed by Bruce Gowers who had directed a video of the band's 1974 performance at the Rainbow Theatre in London. It was recorded by cameraman Barry Dodd and assistant director/floor manager Jim McCutcheon.
In 1992 the song enjoyed renewed popularity in the United States after being featured in a scene in the film Wayne's World where the titular character and his friends headbang in a car to the hard rock part near the end of the song. The song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart after 16 years reaching number two behind Kris Kross's Jump and spending 17 weeks on the chart.
The UK music papers reacted with bemusement recognising that the song was original and technically accomplished but they mostly remained indifferent. Pete Erskine of NME observed that it would be interesting to see whether it'll be played in its entirety on the radio while Allan Jones of Melody Maker described the song as a superficially impressive pastiche of incongruous musical styles.