This effect may remind you of Quicktime VR, or the Black Eyed Peas video for 'Lets Get it Started' (which makes me think Google Street View: The Movie)
I've written about this before, but never made a video, or gathered everything into one place.
More after the jump...
Make a panning background using your 3D software (I used Maya).
No cylinders, spheres, or complex mapping needed.
The photos are available in my flickr set, if you'd like to experiment.
For best results, color correct the images properly - especially along the edges where they meet each other, which is NOT at the extreme edge of the photographs. Also, take a look at Photoshop's lens correction software and see if they need a little tweak in the pincushion-barrel distortion department. They could probably benefit from such an adjustment.
For a better understanding of why flat planes work, and why curved surfaces like cylinders or spheres are not necessary, read these links; especially the first one below.
Nodal Point Pan and Tile: Part 3
Nodal Point Pan - Apollo 17 Panorama
Nodal Point Pan and Tile: Part 2
Nodal Point Pan and Tile: Part 1
I use the term nodal point because so many other people use it. The proper term (and proper point of rotation for panoramas) is the entrance pupil [pdf] of the lens.
