Ashes to Ashes was created as a sequel to Life on Mars, moving the setting from Manchester to London partly because iconic eighties fashion trends would not have reached smaller cities as early as they reached London.

Costume designer Rosie Hackett faced the challenge of not using any eighties fashion that had not yet become available in the specific year each series was set (1981, 1982, and 1983 respectively).

The Audi Quattro featured in the show was not actually available in right-hand drive in the UK in 1981 as depicted; the car used was actually a 1983 model with slightly different headlights and other features.

Philip Glenister said one reason the series moved forward to 1982 was that they were running out of good period songs and feared having to use Bucks Fizz's 'The Land of Make Believe', though a snippet of it was still used in series two.

The final episode of series 3 closes with David Bowie's song 'Heroes', while the first series finale ends with Supertramp's 'Take the Long Way Home'.

The mysterious clown haunting Alex in the first series was designed to resemble the clown from the music video for David Bowie's song 'Ashes to Ashes', echoing the Test-Card Girl motif from Life on Mars.

After critics like The Sun's Ally Ross and The Guardian's Sam Wollaston harshly criticized her performance and character, actress Keeley Hawes sent flowers to all her critics.

Series co-creator Matthew Graham revealed he teased the BBC with a joke pitch for a spinoff called 'The Laughing Gnome' (named after an early David Bowie song, implying a 1960s-set prequel), even creating a copyrighted title page for it, and the BBC jokingly responded that it was commissioned.