The exhibition, which will showcase the natural beauty of the South, was expected to run at Shanghai Natural History Museum for about six months from May next year, which is peak season for the museum with up to 10,000 people visiting per day.
Otago Museum director Dr Ian Griffin said being the first museum in the world to exhibit in the museum's prime temporary exhibition space was a major coup.
Running in such a popular spot meant potential for a boost to the number of tourists visiting Dunedin and other parts of the South, he said.
"It will illustrate all the great things that you can see if you do come to this part of the world.''
When Dr Griffin visited Shanghai Natural History Museum last month to discuss the exhibit, he never expected it would be getting such a prominent space.
"They showed us this other space and we started smiling and they said 'Well, why don't you have this then'.''
A major reason for its success was Dunedin's special place as a sister city with Shanghai and previous efforts to build that relationship, he said.
Museum staff were now working on the exhibit, which will focus on the natural world, through the lens of Ngai Tahu creation stories.
"It uses some nice pieces from our collection as well.''
The museum had received $75,000 in funding from the Dunedin City Council for the exhibit and was looking for further support from Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand.
The project had been in the works for about three years, but the exhibition had been delayed in part because the Shanghai Natural History Museum's new building was opened only last year, Dr Griffin said.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said gaining access to a prime exhibition space in the museum was a major win for the city.
It came after staff at another popular Shanghai tourist destination, Yu Garden, last month told a Dunedin delegation of which he was a member the city could use two of its exhibition rooms, Mr Cull said.
Both developments were fruits of Dunedin's growing relationship with Shanghai and had the potential give the city exposure to "millions of people''.
Dr Griffin yesterday told the council's community and environment committee about some of its other successes, which included having more than 350,000 visitors in the year to the end of June, up from 306,000 last year.
In its first seven months there had been 22,000 visitors to the planetarium, which was tracking well ahead of expectations for 25,000 visitors in its first year, Dr Griffin said.
