The composition of panoramic images has recently received considerable attention. While panoramic images were first used mainly as a flexible visualization technique, they also found application in video coding, video enhancement, format conversion, and content analysis. The topic has enlarged and diverged into many specialized research directions, which makes it difficult to stay in touch with recent developments. This paper intends to give an overview of the current state of research, including recent developments. Two of the applications of sprite coding and global-motion estimation are presented in more detail to provide some insights into the system aspects.