For the film, the trio traveled in three supercars to the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal, where they had timed laps performed by race car driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio.

It attracted nearly two million viewers in its first weekend of release and was eventually made available to non-Amazon Prime members for free viewing from 23 to 26 December 2016.

Irish rock band Hothouse Flowers plays "I Can See Clearly Now" as the trio drive modified Ford Mustangs (Clarkson in blue, Hammond in red, and May in white) through the California desert to Rabbit Dry Lake, while being accompanied by a range of cars and a fly-over by the Breitling Jet Team.

The film presented in the episode shows Clarkson, Hammond and May testing three hybrid hypercars; the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 and LaFerrari at the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal.

Prior to the filming of The Grand Tour, Clarkson, Hammond, and May presented BBC Two motoring programme Top Gear, with Wilman handling the executive production.

[1] In March 2015, it was reported that Clarkson had come under fire by the BBC for entering an altercation with Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon while filming for the show.

[15] The opening weekend for the episode attracted about 1,954,000 viewers in the 18–49 age range, tripling that of The Man in the High Castle, another show on Amazon Video.

"[20] Jack Shepherd of The Independent had a similar feeling about the episode, labeling it as "the best of Top Gear but with a much bigger budget" in his review headline.

[21] For The Guardian, Sam Wollaston wrote that the trio "leave the BBC in their dust" and that they are sure to please fans of Top Gear due to the similarities between the two.