Critically well-received John Adams, directed by Tom Hooper (Elizabeth I, Red Dust, Longford) shot for 6 weeks in Hungary in summer 2007, with production services provided by Adam Goodman's Mid Atlantic Films, which includes Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Eragon among its credits, in addition to television productions Dinotopia, A Christmas Carol, and Robin Hood.

Hungarian Hapsburg-era architecture doubled for 17th Century Paris and London. The crew worked on locations in Budapest and throughout Hungary as well as MAFILM's Budapest and Fot Studios for sound stage photography. Most department heads were brought in from abroad, working with Hungarian crews.

Mid-way through the shoot executive producer Tom Hanks made an unannounced appearance in Budapest to discuss changes required in the shooting schedule after a fire broke out at the MAFILM Studios, a source close to the crew told FNE.

Out of the 23 nominations it garnered, John Adams won in 13 categories, inlcuding Outstanding Mini Series, Lead Actor (Paul Giamatti), Lead Actress (Laura Linney), Supporting Actor (Tom Wilkinson), Writing (Kirk Ellis & David McCullough); Cinematogarphy (Tak Fujimoto), Art Direction (including Christina Moore, supervising art director for Hungary and Sarah Whittle set decorator in Hungary), Casting, Costume Design, Make Up, Sound Editing, Single-camera sound mixing and Special Visual Effects. The series has previously also won the Golden Nymph Award at the Monte Carlo TV Festival.