In 2007–2011 an exhibition based on the series featuring fossils, life-sized models and behind-the-scenes information was held at different locations throughout the UK.

Beginning in Germany 49 million years ago (in the Eocene), Walking with Beasts tracks animal life, particularly the rise of the mammals to dominance, in the Cenozoic era.

The intended goal of the series was to introduce the general public to the fascinating mammals (and other animals) of the Cenozoic era, typically less represented in popular culture than dinosaurs.

[7] The budget of Walking with Beasts was £4.2 million,[1][a] one of the most expensive documentaries ever made[1] but much lower than a feature film with comparable visual effects needs.

[8] Research in preparation for Walking with Beasts was conducted full-time for nearly two years by the geologist Paul Chambers and the zoologist Alex Freeman.

[9] Chambers and Freeman picked the six settings of the programme based on the amount of good fossil evidence, position in the time line and number of interesting animals.

For much of the process, Chambers and Freeman were considering more than six settings, which meant that some potential episode ideas were forced to be abandoned.

Among the abandoned ideas were an episode set in Australia, based on fossils from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.

[10] After Chambers and Freeman had decided upon suitable settings for the programme, the filming locations for Walking with Beasts were chosen by the assistant producer Annie Bates over a nine-month period.

Bates first spoke with palaeobotanists to figure out suitable locations that were sufficiently similar to the intended ancient landscapes.

After determining a comprehensive enough selection of possible filming locations, Bates traveled to the different sites with a video camera to shoot test footage, which was then viewed by the producers to get an idea of the terrain.

[9] Filming locations for Walking with Beasts included Florida, Mexico, Java, Arizona, Brazil, South Africa and Yukon.

[11] In order to write the storylines for the series, producers Jasper James and Nigel Paterson watched numerous nature documentaries on modern animals.

[10] Chambers and Freeman also worked on the storylines, with the goal of ensuring that as much inferred behaviour as possible of each animal was showcased in the series.

For some of the animals in Mammoth Journey (episode six), cave paintings could give an idea of real life colors but for most others the patterns were educated guesswork.

Not all parts of filming the series were entirely imaginary, as Walking with Beasts also made extensive use of animatronics and puppets for close-up shots.

The composition process began with Bartlett and the directors (Jasper James and Nigel Paterson) viewing the different episodes together without sound and determining specific scenes that stood out as especially requiring music.

As a result, the score of Walking with Beasts intentionally disobeys standard rules of sophisticated harmony, focusing on simplicity but also at times having "big blocks of sound [crashing] in uninvited".

The first airing of New Dawn, the first episode of Walking with Beasts, on BBC One attracted 8.5 million viewers and a 81% audience share.

Banks-Smith however criticised the narration, writing that it had not "advanced beyond chalk and blackboard" and that it was "so clearly addressed to a clever but cloth-eared child that you felt yourself dwindle and shrink".

[30] Walking with Beasts: Operation Salvage is a CD-ROM video game for Windows developed by Absolute Studios and published by BBC Worldwide Ltd. on 23 November 2001 as a tie-in to the series.

The Walking with Beasts website featured extensive behind-the-scenes information on the production of the series, information on the fossil evidence used to reconstruct the animals and their environments, fact files for the animals, numerous articles on palaeontological topics such as climate throughout the Cenozoic and the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs, as well as various games.