@Acorn, sorry for the late reply, but I was hit by a severe case of food poisoning. Couldn't eat for 5 days. Am better now but still not totally recovered.

Anyway, yes, I do draw my images as a separate image. They do have different backgrounds from the final image though, so - since part of the image is transparent - I collect all the separate layers into one grouped image and copy/paste that into the final image as vectors. Since there are 53 highly detailed images, you can imagine the sheer amount of vectors, transparences and shades.
For printing, I can separate the final mandala in parts and have them printed, then assembled together again. Size would be several meters wide, like 5 - 6 meters.
A high definition version is useful for projecting (zooming in/out) as well.
I am also looking into projecting this on mountain ranges in the Himalayas. Would be nice to have this in hi-res

Have a look at my FB page in my sig for examples of my work.