Short answers, pulled from the story.
The play The Winter's Tale draws its main plot from Robert Greene's pastoral romance Pandosto, published in 1588. Shakespeare made uncharacteristically slight changes to the source material while maintaining fidelity that gives the play its distinctive sixteen-year gap between acts.
The earliest recorded performance of The Winter's Tale appeared in Simon Forman's journal on the 11th of May 1611 at the Globe playhouse. Subsequent performances included a showing before King James at Court on the 5th of November 1611 and another at Whitehall during festivities preceding Princess Elizabeth's marriage on the 14th of February 1613.
Shakespeare followed Greene's source in giving Bohemia a coast while reversing character locations, which Ben Jonson ridiculed as a geographical impossibility. Andrew Gurr argues this choice flouted geographical realism, while Jonathan Bate suggests the reversal may have been prompted by political sensitivity regarding King James's alliance with Rudolf II.
A sixteen-year gap exists between the third and fourth acts of The Winter's Tale, violating the Classical Unities introduced in 16th-century Italy based on Aristotle's work. This gap is the most distinctive feature of the play compared to its source material Pandosto.
The play The Winter's Tale was not published until the First Folio of 1623. Most critics believe it is one of Shakespeare's later works possibly written in 1610 or 1611, supported by evidence from Ben Jonson's Masque of Oberon performed at Court on the 1st of January 1611.