So first and foremost, a lot of wires. Power cables, ethernet cables, and pixel cables to name a few. For power, I use a lot of the landscaping extension cords and a few splitters. I also run a dedicated ethernet network for the light show that has no internet connection (it doesn't need it).
Stepping up to hardware, the show uses:
2 Ethernet switches. One up on the front porch to run ethernet to everything on the right side of the house, and a second ethernet switch in the garage to split out the data network for the left of the house.
4 AlphxPix Classic Pixel Controllers (From HolidayCoro). These run all the lights except for the one on the big "Mega Tree", which is an AlphaPix Flex Controller. There is also a Flex Controller that is configured to run AC lights (on/off/dim) that I use for the ground lights in front of the garage.
1 Raspberry Pi 4. This used to be a much older Raspberry Pi that I just happened to have lying around, but it was super underpowered and the show audio would glitch sometimes. After upgrading to the 4, I've not had any problems with it at all. This device coordinates the schedule for the show, plays the audio to be broadcast, and also decodes the sequences to relay to the Pixel Controllers.
There are two main pieces of software used in the show:
xLights is open source software that is the sequencer. This allows me to import a music track and the layout for the lights, and tell the lights what to do when. It is free.
Falcon Player (FPP). This is the distribution that runs on the Raspberry Pi. It is also free.
How about the lights themselves?
The house outline is done with PVC pipe. The lights are zip-tied onto the PVC pipes, and then HolidayCoro sells specific transparent clips that are used to attach them to the house (the clips remain on the house year round. The PVC pipes are supposed to come down each year, though they didn't this year).
The "Mega Tree" was a HolidayCoro kit, as were all the mini-trees. The Mega is a series of plastic strands attached to a vertical fence rail. The mini-trees come apart and lie flat for storage.
The arches are made from PVC pipe and transparent PEX pipe and used the only LED strips in the show. I should probably do a deeper dive into how I made these arches, but it boils down to runned LED strip through the PEX, and then having a base made from PVC pipes.