Radisson was conceived as a Canadian version of Davy Crockett, a successful Walt Disney Company series which portrayed an American adventurer.
Filming of the 39-episode series began on 20 August 1956 in studios at Montreal and with location shooting in surrounding areas such as the Saint Lawrence River and Île Perrot.
Following substantial preliminary publicity for the series, an episode in late February 1957 received higher viewership in the Toronto and Vancouver markets than other American programming, according to an Elliott-Haynes survey.
[1] Ottawa Citizen television critic Bob Blackburn declared the theme song "so closely resembled Davy Crockett that it was a little sickening" and noted the high costs of the problematic production.
[3] Helen Perodeau (a daughter of Charles Basil Price) expressed to The Gazette her sentiment that the show was a weak derivative of Davy Crockett, with major shortcomings in acting and production design.