Realizing The Desert Prince was an adventurous experience reminiscent of the days of the air mail pioneers. As our aim was to create a TV highlight surpassing the limits of conventional documentaries, it was clear from the start that much of the Prince’s visual appeal depended on the quality of the material shot in the majestic sand dunes of the Moroccan Sahara.

Logistics and planning for the in-flight sequences and other re-enacted shots was a demanding task. In a narrow time window of only eight weeks many obstacles had to be overcome: How do you transport a 70-year-old Tigermoth double-decker plane from Germany to a remote outpost in the world’s biggest desert? How do you bring the delicate plane and high-tech equipment safely through the narrow one-track serpentines of the High Atlas? How do you carry hundreds of gallons of highly explosive flight petrol through mountains and the glaring desert heat? And how do you get all the required landing and filming permits in time?

As we learned during the making of this extraordinary production, many of the dangers and difficulties we met were challenges "Saint-Ex" and other air-mail pioneers faced every day.

In the end, a crew and cast of more than twenty people (plus ten camels) was involved in the production process. That The Desert Prince was completed on time, in budget and with a visual quality surpassing our ambitions in many ways is a success owed to the outstanding work of an experienced team.

• Angela Volkner, renowned TV journalist and author of many successful projects for major broadcasters like ARD, once again worked miracles in research, planning and even location scouting. Together with VIDICOM legal advisor Wilfried Becker, she also mastered the intricacies of dealing with the Moroccan authorities.

• Cameraman Kay Andersson, who has already done excellent camera work for many major productions by VIDICOM and other companies, produced spectacular in-flight images with innovative equipment like his tiny Sony DV fingercam – and lost his new Sony 700 to the ubiquitous desert sand.

• Swedish stunt pilot Sten Svensson, member of the famous Flying Legends aviation artists, navigated our historic double-decker in the colors of the legendary Latécoère line over the breathtaking landscape of the Sahara. More than once he had to battle with adverse weather conditions. One of the most critical moments in all his career occurred when an empty tank forced him to land the fragile oldtimer with a strong side wind of more than 35 knots – the usual limit for manoeuvres like this is 25 knots.

• Our other pilots were Karl-Heinz Maxwitat, former flight ace in the East German army and one of the best Cessna pilots in Europe, and celebrated rally pilot Barbara Friedenberg. While Maxwitat mastered even the most difficult camera flights with incredible precision, Friedenberg took us along the authentic route of the legendary Latécoère line.

• Our driver and flight mechanic Peter Schmidtberger, normally ZDF’s head driver, managed the dangerous passage over the mountains of the High Atlas in one incredible non-stop night-drive – a challenge made all the more difficult by aggressive oncoming traffic in the narrow one-track serpentines. He was also instrumental in re-assembling the disassembled Tigermoth oldtimer and preparing it for take-off.