Filmmaker Frederique Olivier, and her assistant, Martin Passingham, spent 11 months in the Antarctic filming this documentary, filming between 14 and 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Camped 60 miles from the coast, they often had to endure blizzard conditions and temperatures as low as -60C or -76F, with some shooting periods lasting 24 or 36 hours without a break.
The filmmakers were not allowed to be any closer than 20 yards from the penguin colony, as it is protected by strict international law.
In order to achieve the penguin-perspective shots, the filmmakers disguised cameras as lumps of snow, ice and even penguins, with one camera - nicknamed the "chick-cam" - designed to look like a four-day-old chick.