"Iftah Ya Simsim" was the first children's educational TV program of its kind in the Arab world and the first "Sesame Street" co-production in the region. It was the first co-production to use Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Its development was similar to that of the American version of "Sesame Street" in the late 1960s. The GCC considered creating a co-production for many years, so consultations were held among its member countries regarding how to do so. Many of the early co-productions were simple, dubbed versions with local language voice-overs and instructional cutaways, but the GCC wanted to create their own original version.