Before Marie Taglioni there is no historical evidence of a ballerina performing on point shoes. Early ballerinas danced on soft shoes and choreography did not focus on standing on the tips of the toes. In 1832 Marie Taglioni danced on point for the entirety of the ballet "La Sylphide." Marie Taglioni's shoes were soft leather with stitching to hold them in place. Taglioni essentially performed this ballet barefoot as her shoes provided almost no support.
As Marie Taglioni proved, dancing on point entertained audiences and created new possibilities for choreographers. In Russia, choreographers wanted dancers to be able to perform jumps where the dancers landed directly on the tips of their toes. To make this possible, Russian ballet shoes began to harden. Layers of silk and glue created a hard box that gave the dancer's foot stability. Italian ballet didn't require shoes this hard, so Russia developed them first.
A shoemaker from New York, Salvatore Capezio opened his shop across from the Metropolitan Opera House in 1887. He saw the need for even harder, tougher point shoes for American dancers who performed on point in every performance. Capezio widened the base of the shoe by creating a larger box from silk and glue which supported the dancer's toes and the arch of their foot. These reinforced boxes and tougher shoes allowed for new choreography.
Point shoes have not developed or changed much since the late 1800s, despite new technologies and forms in ballet. Layers of silk and glue create a hard box that is the tip of the shoe. By the end of the 1800s, these boxes widened. Anna Pavlova, a famous ballerina, had her photos retouched to hide the bulkiness of her shoes. Paper, leather, glue, and nails are also used in the creation of point shoes today.