The series was filmed at Sound Stage 21 at Universal Studios Florida on a set dubbed the "Extreme Arena".

This arena consists of a turf playing field, a pool, a racing track, an obstacle course and the Aggro Crag.

As of 2022, the show now airs as part of a Nick Games block on Pluto TV channel 1016, "No Parents Allowed".

On each half-hour episode, three participants (blue, red, and purple) compete against each other in four events that are based on "extreme" versions of skills in popular sports, such as basketball, baseball, football, and soccer.

The player with the most points after all five events won the game and received a gold GUTS medal and a faux glowing piece of the Aggro Crag.

Each player had a separate, but identical side of the mountain to climb, and was not permitted to cross into their opponents' paths or disrupt their progress.

The climb is made more difficult by strobe lights simulating "lightning", foam rock "avalanches", flying "snow" in the form of glitter and confetti, and "nuclear flying crystals" in the form of balls that are each triggered either at random or when the players stepped on specific switchbacks on the crag.

On August 21, 1993, at the start of the show's second season, Nickelodeon aired a one-hour special known as Nickelodeon GUTS All-Stars, where three best contestants from the previous season, Mike "Superman" Schmidt, Jana "The Warrior" Waring, and Kelli "The Maniac" Marchewka, who achieved 1,925 points, competed against each other for a college scholarship and a special GUTS All-Star trophy.

In the award ceremony, each contestant received a Nickelodeon GUTS All-Stars plate along with prize money for college scholarship.

Taping of Global GUTS took place from July 12, 1995, to August 15, 1995, and episodes began airing September 5, 1995,[5] as part of Nick in the Afternoon.

In addition to airing on Nickelodeon in the United States, the program was shown in represented countries on the following networks: In addition to countries not actually represented in the games: A revival of the show, My Family's Got Guts, debuted on September 15, 2008, filmed at Universal Studios Florida as was the original (but due to it already being occupied, not on the same sound stage as the original).

In November 1994, a video game based on the series was developed and published by Viacom New Media exclusively for the Super NES.