Universal Pictures paid over $1 million for the spec script in June 2000, intending it as a directing vehicle for Tom Shadyac through his Universal-based production company Shady Acres.

Jim Carrey signed on to star in March 2002, after which Steve Oedekerk rewrote the script; Carrey had previously been slated to star in a different Universal comedy called 'Dog Years' for director Gary Ross, but when that project was cancelled, the studio moved him onto Bruce Almighty instead.

The Buffalo scenes were actually filmed on the 'New York Street' backlot at Universal Studios, while the restaurant scene with Tony Bennett was shot at Cicada in the James Oviatt Building in downtown Los Angeles.

The spa scene featuring Jennifer Aniston was filmed in the Shoin building at The Japanese Garden in Los Angeles.

The film was banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and Qatar for its portrayal of God as an ordinary man, considered blasphemous in Islam; the bans in Malaysia and Egypt were later lifted after the films were given the highest possible age-rating classification.

Because the film used a real phone number (776–2323) instead of the standard fictional 555 exchange for God's pager, real people and organizations sharing that number—including a North Carolina church whose minister was actually named Bruce, a Florida woman, a Wisconsin pastor, and a Manchester, England sandwich shop owner—received hundreds of calls from viewers trying to reach God; the number was changed to a fictional 555 one for home video and TV releases.

Three Indian films released in 2008—Krishnarjuna (Telugu), Arai En 305-il Kadavul (Tamil), and God Tussi Great Ho (Hindi)—were inspired by Bruce Almighty without crediting the original.

Before Evan Almighty was developed, screenwriters Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe had conceived a different sequel titled 'Brucifer,' in which Jennifer Aniston's character would die and Jim Carrey's grief-stricken Bruce would take on Satan's powers to resurrect her.