The series looks at how seasonal changes powered by the sun cause shifting weather patterns and ocean currents, which in turn create the conditions for some of the planet's most spectacular wildlife events.

In United States, the series was shown under the alternative title Nature's Most Amazing Events beginning on 29 May 2009[1] and was narrated by Hasani Issa.

The series was first unveiled as a co-production deal with independent Wanda Films, under the working title of Earth's Great Events.

The score was composed by Barnaby Taylor and Ben Salisbury,[6] orchestrated and conducted by William Goodchild[7] and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Views of the earth from space, that illustrate the climatic events around the world, were created by design company Burrell Durrant Hifle incorporating NASA photography.

Producer Karen Bass described the series as "a minor miracle, given the constraints of luck and timing - we were totally dependent on events happening when they were supposed to."

One of the most challenging sequences to film was the climax of "The Great Tide" episode, featuring aerial and underwater footage of dolphins, sharks and gannets attacking a sardine shoal.

Innovations on "The Great Flood" included FrankenCam, a motion-control macro camera developed by Ammonite Films and capable of shooting extreme close-ups of tiny subjects.

The crew of "The Great Migration" had the good fortune of witnessing the first eruption of a Tanzanian volcano in 40 years, and managed to shoot aerial footage of the event.

A few short weeks later, the young launch themselves on their maiden flights, but those that crash before they reach open water present an easy meal for an Arctic fox mother and her cubs.

In the height of summer, large parts of the Arctic Ocean are virtually ice-free, leaving some polar bears stranded on the few remaining icebergs.

Other predators join the feast, including orcas, Steller sea lions, salmon sharks and the bald headed eagle.

As the herds move north following the rains, the Ndutu pride's four lionesses and seven cubs are left behind to face the dry season without their main prey.

The lions face a further challenge as the active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai erupts for the first time since 1967, raining ash down on the plains.

The fourth programme follows the largest gathering of predators on the planet as they hunt down billions of sardines pinned to the cold water along the coast.

The fifth instalment is set in Botswana, where the arid plains of the Kalahari are transformed into a lush wetland by the annual flooding of the Okavango Delta.

New elephant behaviour is filmed as they skim their trunks delicately across the surface of a stagnant pool, siphoning clean water from the upper layers.

The transformation of the desert into a green oasis is filmed using time-lapse photography, whilst sequences shot with macro lenses show the changes in much finer detail.

Male hippos plough through the newly formed waterways and battle for dominance, red lechwe bound through the shallows and huge flocks of wading birds arrive to breed.

In winter, the coastal fjords and inlets are relatively lifeless, and the resident Steller sea lions must dive deeper and further from the coast to catch the widely-dispersed herring.

The finale to the programme features unique underwater footage of humpbacks engulfing whole bait balls, and reveals their co-operative hunting behaviour called bubble-netting.

"[27] Matt Warman of The Daily Telegraph was complimentary about the "wealth of surprising, beautiful images", but criticised the series for its superficial treatment of environmental issues.

Writing about the plight of polar bears highlighted in "The Great Melt", he commented "it was tempting to ask whether the rise of one species, man, and the decline of another could not be considered a sad part of evolution by natural selection...

In United States and Canada, both DVD[31] and Blu-ray Disc[32][33] was released under the title "Nature's Most Amazing Events" on 2 June 2009 by BBC Warner.