In the United States, to avoid a programming conflict with Super Bowl VII and Elvis on Tour which was playing in cinemas at the time, NBC opted to air a ninety-minute television special of the concert on April 4.

The television special presented in the United States became NBC's highest-rated program of the year, and it received a favorable reception from critics.

[3] His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, arranged for him to play a concert residency at the newly built International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Sweet Inspirations, the Imperials, the Stamps and Kathy Westmoreland provided backing vocals,[4] and the show also featured the 30-piece Joe Guercio orchestra.

[8] Presley appeared at Madison Square Garden in New York City in June 1972;[9] the performance was released as a live album the same month and reached number 11 on Billboard's Hot 100.

[10] A month after the Madison Square Garden show, Parker mentioned to the press that arrangements were being made for Presley to play a concert via satellite to live audiences worldwide.

The date had to be moved at the request of television executive Jim Aubrey, who wanted to avoid the special overlapping with the theatrical release of Elvis On Tour, scheduled for the same month.

He was unimpressed by Presley's performance, feeling his presence was "staged, quiet", and expressed his doubts to the network that he would be able to produce an hour-and-a-half special.

[19] Presley's managerial contract, signed in 1967, stipulated that Parker would receive fifty percent of the total profit of his negotiated deals.

[20] Eddie Sherman, a Honolulu Advertiser writer, contacted Parker with the idea of giving the proceeds of the concert admissions to a charity he had recently established.

Since Parker could not charge a television audience for tickets, Sherman proposed taking donations for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund instead.

[27] Mirrors would frame the stage,[28] while the background would feature flashing neon signs that read "Elvis" in the language of the countries where the concert was projected to be broadcast, and the accompanying album would be released.

[27] Pasetta told Presley he was not pleased with his performance in Long Beach and laid out his plans for the stage and the details of the Hawaii production.

Presley returned to his home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, and began to exercise to deal with Pasetta's weight concerns.

[29] Pasetta returned to Los Angeles, where he began work on the stage that would be shipped to Hawaii; further set decorations would be added on location.

Pasetta and the crew traveled there to film the scenery to be added as inserts to the television special for its release in the United States.

[29] After seeing the stage in the venue, Presley asked Pasetta to remove the scattered individual risers that were put in place for the TCB Band and backup singers.

[35] The white jumpsuit featured a bald eagle made with patterns of gold, blue and red gems on the chest and back.

[31] Honolulu mayor Frank Fasi declared January 13 "Elvis Presley day", to commend him for his contributions to the Kui Lee Cancer Fund.

Parker arranged entertainment for the fans turned away after the limit was reached, featuring high school bands, clowns, and robots.

[31] The problem was fixed, but two hours before the start of the show, the sound system picked up a hum caused by the stage lights.

[48] After the audience left the building, Presley returned to the arena to record additional material for the United States version of the television special.

[44] The next day, Honolulu Advertiser columnist Wayne Harada called the show a "thrilling, compact hour-long on music and screams" in his review.

He deemed Presley's performance of "I'll Remember You" as "easily the most sentimental" for the Hawaiian audience and remarked on the warm reception for "An American Trilogy".

[58] It opened with an animation of the satellite "beaming" Presley to different parts of the world, with audio signals in Morse code saying "Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii".

[54] Pasetta added clips of Presley's arrival by helicopter to the Hilton hotel and the show outside the arena to the concert sequences.

[61] The Los Angeles Times review remarked on Presley's "polished skills" while calling his antics "an amusing parody" of his early career.

[63] The New York Daily News praised Pasetta's work on the production and Presley's performance that used "fewer tricks" but delivered "a skillfully paced concert".

[64] A negative review in the Chicago Sun-Times said the program consisted of "a 90-minute documentary of Presley's sweat glands at work, masquerading as an entertainment special".

[47] Allmusic gave the release four stars out of five, and declared "the January 14 show remains genuinely exciting 31 years later", and praised the audio and video remastering.