Britain's Dragon's Den was adapted from the Japanese business-investment programme Money Tigers.
Money Tigers was created in Japan and established the format in which entrepreneurs present business proposals to wealthy investors. The investors listen to the pitch, ask questions about the product and finances, and decide whether to offer their own money for a share of the company.
The British adaptation retained that basic structure while changing the investors, presenter, businesses, and production style for a UK audience. In Britain, the investors became known as Dragons, which supplied the programme's title. Other countries later adapted the same core idea under different names, including Shark Tank in the United States.
A common mistake is to identify Shark Tank as the original source because it is a very prominent version. Shark Tank is itself part of the wider international family of adaptations; Money Tigers is the Japanese programme credited as the format's origin.