The Commanding Heights is the highly acclaimed and award winning U.S. documentary, based upon the book of the same title written by economist, Daniel Yergin. This in-depth documentary had been filmed over the course of two years on five continents. It tells the story of global economic history from the time of the first World War until 2002 in a compelling and comprehensive manner, featuring interviews of world leaders and key players such as Singapore Senior Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, former US President, Bill Clinton, former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, and Indian Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh, among many others.

The series was brought to Sri Lanka by Milinda as he felt it gave an excellent overview of the forces, values, events and ideas that have shaped the present economic system over the past century. He felt that the series would provide viewers with an in-depth understanding of the global economic scene, world trade and economic development and to help educate the public about the need for economic reforms in Sri Lanka.

The documentary was originally organized into three two-hour parts: The Battle for Ideas, The Agony of Reform, The New Rules of the Game

The series was first carried in its original English format on his programme, Obey Wedikawe in six one-hour segments. It was then subtitled in Sinhala and broken up into 12 different one-half hour segments which coupled with half-hour discussions which related the events and concepts presented each week to the Sri Lankan context. Some of the half hour segments featured special guests such as the then Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. A.S. Jayawardena and were filmed in various Sri Lankan locations.