The Real Reason for Seasons accompanies a book of the same title, written by the Lawrence Hall of Science GEMS (Great Explorations in Math and Science). The CD-ROM contains additional classroom activities and media elements that help explain the reasons for the seasons. It was developed for the Lawrence Hall of Science, NASA's Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum, and The Center For Science Education at U.C. Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory.

The CD-ROM uses a standard Web browser and Apple's QuickTime digital video technology. It was developed for both Mac and PC users. An installer program was created to automatically detect and install QuickTime.