This was the only season to feature the mixing of live-action and animation; by the following year, the series had transitioned to full CGI.

This was also the last series to utilize the Island of Sodor intro from the start of the UK broadcasts.

This change marked the movement of production of the show from the United Kingdom to Canada,[2][3][4] although the model scenes were still filmed at Shepperton Studios.

HiT Entertainment's Senior Vice-president of Production and Programming, Christopher Skala, stated that the change, aside from budgetary reasons, was intended to convey more emotion and flexibility through the stories.

Skala claimed that, of his focus group, even those who felt that Thomas, as an institution, should not be changed in this way, ultimately responded positively to the demonstration of the new animation techniques.