Writer Yoo Hyun-mi had been planning the series for twelve years, basing it on the memoirs of a man who escaped a political prison camp in North Korea.

Snowdrop is the second collaboration between screenwriter Yoo Hyun-mi and director Jo Hyun-tak, who previously worked together on the hit satirical thriller Sky Castle (2018-19).

The series' early working title was 'Ehwa Woman's University Dormitory' (이대 기숙사).

Kim Hye-yoon, who rose to fame after Sky Castle, was reported to be in talks for the series as early as June 2020, before Jisoo and Jung Hae-in officially joined the cast later that year.

Filming was temporarily halted in November 2020 after a supporting actor came into close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19; production resumed once the entire cast and crew tested negative, and filming wrapped in late July 2021.

Snowdrop sparked a major controversy in South Korea for allegedly distorting the history of the 1987 pro-democracy movement, with online petitions to the Blue House gathering over 300,000 signatures demanding the drama be cancelled.

JTBC rushed the broadcast schedule, airing episodes 3, 4 and 5 on three consecutive days (December 24-26, 2021) in an attempt to clarify the storyline and quell the historical negationism controversy.

Daegu University, where the series was filmed, requested that its name be removed from the drama's credits due to the controversy, and several advertisers pulled their sponsorships.

In March 2022, the Korea Communications Standards Commission concluded after an investigation that Snowdrop did not distort history or denigrate the democratization movement, deeming it uncontroversial enough not to even require review.