This made for television feature movie is ''based on a true incident'' according to the British Film Insitute (BFI).
The ''Dawson'' of the movie's title refers to the Yukon town of Dawson City on the Yukon River in the Yukon in the northwest of Canada.
The year this tele-movie is set is 1910. It was first broadcast in 1978. This makes an interval of about 68 years between the two dates.
The mission in the movie was to travel within twenty days a distance of 500 miles between two outposts in the Northwest Territories of Canada from Fort McPherson to the Yukon town of Dawson City.
This television feature was filmed in the Northwest Territories of Canada.