The Bohemian dog salesman Josef Schwejk (Fritz Muliar) is someone, who enjoys life to the full and cheats his way through life, in Prague at the start of the 20th century, when Prague was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and before any World Wars had taken place.
Wolfgang Liebeneiner also directed Die Schatzinsel, which was broadcast as a four-part series around Christmas.
Through its success and because he had also filmed "Schwejks Flegeljahre" (English: Schweijk's years of being a brat) with Peter Alexander in the leading role, Liebeneiner was encouraged to produce the series.
Fritz Muliar was even greatly acknowledged by Heinz Rühmann for his role, who had already played Schwejk in the movie of the same name.
Filming took place in Krems an der Donau (in the series Prague), on the shipyard of Korneuburg (in the series marine ammunition storage of Trieste) as well as in the Weinviertel "wine quarter" (amongst others at the Karnabrunn train station along the line of Korneuburg-Hohenau).