It premiered on 6 November, 1989 on Portuguese channel RTP, and has since also been broadcast in other Portuguese-speaking markets, including Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
[6] An RTP team was sent to New York City to select the animation, puppet and live-action segments from the American version, the adaptation for which took two years.
[4] The series ended up becoming one of the most expensive productions RTP had made to date, with the first season alone costing the equivalent of €2 million.
Segments were filmed in mainland Portugal, Azores, Madeira, Africa and Macao, to provide a variety of realities to the viewer.
[4] After the end of the series, RTP replicated the formula relying entirely on Portuguese productions, with Jardim da Celeste (1997-2000) and Ilha das Cores (2007-2009).