Short answers, pulled from the story.
Paul McCartney initiated the Magical Mystery Tour project in April 1967 with a vision to create an unscripted film capturing a psychedelic theme. He wanted to combine Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters bus ride idea with memories of Liverpudlians holidaying on coach tours.
The Beatles first recorded the title song at EMI Studios in London between the 25th of April and the 3rd of May. An instrumental jam was recorded on the 9th of May for possible inclusion in the film, although it was never completed.
Many biographers characterize the group's post-Sgt. Pepper recording sessions of 1967 as aimless and undisciplined while they took place at Chappell Recording Studios in central London since they were unable to book EMI at short notice. George Martin chose to distance himself from their work at this time saying much of the Magical Mystery Tour recording was disorganized chaos.
Magical Mystery Tour was issued in the UK on the 8th of December the day after opening their Apple Boutique in central London and just over two weeks before the film was broadcast by BBC Television. It retailed at the sub-£1 price of 19s 6d.
The EP sold over 500,000 copies in the UK where its chart performance is a significant achievement given that the EP's retail price far exceeded that of singles with which it competed. In the US the album sold 1,936,063 copies by the 31st of December 1967 and 2,373,987 copies by the end of the decade.