It was created by Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton, who had previously produced the first two series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
Modified set props and tugboat models were used in Thomas & Friends from 1991 onwards, with footage from the original programme being heavily dubbed and edited for use in the American children's series Salty's Lighthouse.
After Clearwater's liquidation in 1990, Mitton joined The Britt Allcroft Company to continue working on Thomas & Friends in 1991, while Cardona went on to direct Theodore Tugboat, a similarly natured series set in Canada.
[4] The set featured the Clearwater Periscope lens system, a type of professional video camera used to film at the models' eye level.
Remote control devices were initially tested in operating the machines, but the tugboats became too heavy and unable to move through the water.
[4] Throughout the series, the two fleets primarily contest contracts to dock and tow larger sailing vessels and objects, including ocean liners, tramp steamers and schooners.
The fleet consists of Ten Cents, Big Mac, O.J., Top Hat, Warrior, Hercules and Sunshine.
All 13 episodes were originally twenty-minutes long, but were edited to fifteen minutes for television broadcasts, most likely due to time slot issues.
[8] In April 2024, to mark the 35th Anniversary of the series first broadcast, Tugs: The Exhibition, licensed by Sanctuary Records, a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management, released the fifteen minute broadcast version of Sunshine (limited to 150 copies) which included a DVD insert with behind the scenes photos taken during the production of the episode, and a booklet containing a script for the 15 minute version, the footage being taken from a U-Matic sub master tape.
In 2012, having long been presumed destroyed, the original models from the series were located and purchased by a group of fans via eBay UK.
As of 2020, the exhibition owns the majority of the leading and supporting cast (with the exception of Top Hat, Grampus, Lord Stinker, Little Ditcher, The Two Rail Barges Eddie and Frank, and Sally Seaplane, whose whereabouts are unknown), several alternate faces for the characters, various props and other related assets to the series.