The film was intended to conclude the Friday the 13th series as producer Frank Mancuso Jr. felt disrespected for his work on the franchise despite its box office success and wanted to move on to other projects, hence the title The Final Chapter.

Paramount Pictures supported ending the series because the studio was aware that the slasher genre's popularity was declining at the time.

Make-up effects artist Tom Savini, who had helped create Jason in the original film but skipped Part 2 and Part III, returned specifically because he wanted to be the one to help kill off the character.

Director Joseph Zito was contracted to both direct and write the screenplay; he initially said he wasn't a writer but accepted once payment for writing was included, then secretly used that extra salary to hire Barney Cohen as the actual screenwriter.

The writing process involved Zito taking nightly hour-long phone calls with Phil Scuderi to discuss the story, then relaying ideas to Cohen in New York, who turned them into pages sent daily to Scuderi in Boston for further discussion.

Camilla More originally auditioned for the role of Samantha, but when filmmakers learned she had a twin sister, Carey, they cast the pair as twins Tina and Terri instead.

Peter Barton was initially reluctant to take the role of Doug Bell because he wanted no part in horror films after a bad experience on Hell Night, but co-star Amy Steel, his castmate from the TV series The Powers of Matthew Star, convinced him to join.

Filming took place from October 1983 to January 1984 in Topanga Canyon and Newhall, California, and the release date was moved up from October to April 13, leaving only six weeks for post-production.

Actress Judie Aronson had to remain submerged in a freezing lake for her scenes and later developed hypothermia, while Peter Barton was genuinely slammed against a shower wall for his death scene.

Actor Ted White, who played Jason, clashed with director Zito over the crew's treatment of the cast, threatening to quit unless Aronson was removed from the cold lake between takes, and ultimately had his name removed from the credits due to the hostile relationship.

According to Ted White, Corey Feldman acted bratty on set due to Zito's treatment, and while filming the scene of Tommy hacking at Jason's body—actually two sandbags—Feldman pretended the sandbags were the director.

Actress Kimberly Beck experienced unsettling incidents during filming, including a man watching her while she ran in the park and receiving strange phone calls at odd hours, which stopped once production wrapped.

An alternate ending exists as a DVD extra showing Trish discovering Mrs. Jarvis's body in the bathtub, but the original audio track for this scene has been lost.

Composer Harry Manfredini, who scored all previous entries in the series, also composed the music for this film, and a limited 6-CD boxset of his scores for the first six films sold out within 24 hours of release in 2012.