Does the intro sequence to the Game of Thrones TV series have any meaning?

The intro to Game of Thrones episodes includes a model mechanical world sprouting up buildings at Kings' Landing, Winterfell, and other key locations. Does this have any significance other than something cool to look at?

Answer

George R. R. Martin's blog had a link recently to a site with some information about the title sequence. It includes an interview that gives some insight into the process of building the sequence.

Game of Thrones (2011), Art of the Title

To summarize:

The original idea was to show a map, but this was too… flat. So the artists decided to depict intricate miniatures — denoting top-notch craftsmanship as a metaphor for GRRM's writing.

The style evokes the kinds of miniatures that could have been built with about the technology in the story. It's as if a talented and devoted artist from the GoT world had made them.

The world is shown as the inside of a sphere to make the “camera” movements look better — zoom out from a location, rotate the camera, zoom into a different location, without risking showing an edge of the world.

The miniatures depict locations that are seen in the episode. Thus the intro sequence varies from episode to episode: it depends on the visited locations. In addition, there are minor variations in the cuts, just to introduce a little unpredictability.

They don't explain how the title music is able to lodge in your brain and linger there for days after you watch an episode though...

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