The original German anti-war anthem by Nena was published in 1983 during The Cold War.

The balloons flying into the sky were the idea of Carlo Karges, Nena’s guitarist. The inspiration is taken from the European tour of the Rolling Stones for their album Tattoo You. Among other locations, balloons were released onto the stage and into the crowd during their song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in Berlin. Karges has imagined, how the balloons would fly over the Berlin Wall and be mistaken for enemy missiles, causing World War III.

Despite being in German, the song was understood internationally. It rose to #1 in the charts of the United Kingdom and Canada for example.

Because of this, the English version was recorded. Due to small lyric changes to keep the rhythm, many listeners find the English version as lacking in the special atmosphere which is why it couldn’t keep up with the success of the German original.