According to a Midrash, Adam and Eve were the first people to recite this blessing when they were in the Garden of Eden.
In the Ashkenazic rite, the weekday version is recited on Yom Tov, and all other special days which do not fall on the sabbath, the weekday version (Hameir la'aretz (He Who illuminates)) is recited.
On Shabbat (and holidays as well in the Sephardic tradition), a longer version of the blessing is recited, with the same beginning followed by the paragraph Hakol yodukha.
This paragraph is followed by an acrostic song called El Adon in which each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
[8] In the Ashkenazic rite, on Festivals and many special Sabbaths, a piyyut (Yotzer) is recited following the opening line of the Blessing.