The episode's tone word-"joyous"-was influenced by Russell T. Davies' realisation that "every story since The Fires of Pompeii (2008) [had] a bittersweet quality" and his subsequent desire to avoid the recurring theme.
Both buses were meant to be intact throughout the story, but while one was en route to Dubai, it was badly knocked about at the docks by a crane driver who was careless with a container. So the film crew sent photos of the damage back to Cardiff and there the crew made similar 'alterations' to that bus so they would - almost - match. Then a few lines were added to the script to explain the sudden change in the buses's appearance.
Behind the scenes, it featured a revolution in the way the show was filmed. Beginning with this episode, it was no longer recorded on digital betacam, and instead natively recorded on high definition video (although Spearhead from Space was completely shot on film and was able to be converted to true high definition video decades after its original broadcast.) Likewise, the home video release was the first episode ever released in the Blu-ray format. The story also broke new ground with its location filming, which involved the show's first road trip to an Arabic country.
Adam James is the godson of the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee and has been best friends with actor David Tennant since they played brothers in a play in 1999. His mother Polly James played Jane Humpden in The Awakening.