What happens when you promote to production?

I have gone through this procedure before since I have released games before but I dont remember :/
When you develop an app or game for Google Play Store you first upload it to beta or alpha and publish and test it. But then there is a button "promote to prod" that move the apk to production. But what exactly happens when you do this? Is the app released live on the store as soon as you do this?

When should I promote to production? My thinking is that when you do so the game is also checked by Google and approved, so I would like to do this some days before my actual release to be on the safe side and have it all done to be ready for release whenever I want. But I am afraid that when I do this it will be live on the store before I actually want to release it?

No, you can actually upload the .apk directly to production. That doesn't mean that the game is instantly published. I am pretty sure that promoting to production simply moves the apk out of the testing area and into the production area of the console. You move the apk to production when it's no longer a beta / alpha version. When you're ready to publish it, you click the publish button in the upper right corner of the Developer Console.

Thanks Popcorn, but even in beta or alpha mode you need to hit "publish" to test the apk or when you submit updates. The games status is actually showing up as "published" already, even though it is not live on the store.

Ah, well I haven't tried to move an active beta version to production, I've ended the beta first. So I guess can't help you there. You might want to send Google a shout :)

I published one game on Google Play, had it in alpha mode for a few minutes only, then decided I did enough testing on my phone already, so I clicked "promote to production." I remember preparing the store listing (description, screenshots, etc.) and then clicking "Publish" in the top-right corner as Popcorn said (from "Store Listing" page on the navigation bar in the Developer Console). I believe the app needs to be promoted to production, then the "Publish" button clicked, then it will take a few hours for the app to be live on Google Play (probably no more than 6 hours). It's also pretty easy to submit updates if you find there are bugs after the game is published.
I tried the live chat help from the Developer Console when I had a different issue, and found it to be pretty helpful. When you have the Developer Console open, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and under "Need Help?" you can click "Contact Support" and text chat with a live representative from Google.