Sesame Street was conceived in 1966 by television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett of the Carnegie Foundation, who wanted to master the addictive qualities of television and use them for children's good. After two years of research, the Children's Television Workshop received an $8 million grant from Carnegie, the Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the US government. The show used commercial techniques such as live shorts, animation and repetition to teach the alphabet, numbers and basic reasoning, while guest cameos drew older viewers. It premiered on public television on November 10, 1969, as the first preschool programme built on laboratory and formative research. Its later curriculum added emotions, relationships and ethics.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.