Alexandrov founded the Alexandrov Ensemble, and spent many years as its director, in which role he first gained favor with Joseph Stalin, the country's ruler during the last two decades of Alexandrov's life. His choir participated successfully in the Universal Exposition of 1937 in Paris, and in 1942, Stalin commissioned him and lyricists Sergey Mikhalkov and Gabriel El-Registan to create a new Soviet national anthem, which was officially adopted on 1 January 1944 and was used by the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. It later became the National Anthem of Russia in December 2000, with Mikhalkov writing the new lyrics.