Unlike most dinosaur documentaries, for instance BBC's previous Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), which blended live-action footage with CGI animals, Planet Dinosaur relied solely on computer generated graphics to create its imagery. 21 habitats were created altogether. They primarily used a software called SOFTIMAGE XSI as well as NUKE to build up these environments, combining actual, CGI terrains and digital matte-paintings to fill in the background, since building up an entirely 3D environment would have been next to impossible, given the immense computing power and rendering times that such an undertaking would have required.