The series was originally written as a pilot by executive producer Matt Reeves for ABC in 2006, based on a concept that Caleb Ranson had been developing for a separate British series for ITV, but neither program moved forward at the time.

The project was revived a decade later, receiving a put pilot commitment from NBC in November 2018 and a full pilot order for the 2020–21 season in January 2020.

Principal photography on the pilot began in Chicago, Illinois in March 2020 but was suspended within days due to COVID-19 shutdowns, leaving the pilot only partially filmed until production resumed in November 2020 and wrapped in December 2020.

Because of the pandemic delay, the series was pushed from the 2020–21 season to the 2021–22 season; filming on the rest of the first season began on July 27, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia, and concluded on December 10, 2021.

James Wolk was the first cast member announced, joining on February 19, 2020 in the title role of Joe Kimbreau, followed the next month by Natalie Martinez and Charlie Barnett.

The show uses distinct color palettes to visually differentiate its three parallel timelines: green hues for the nurse storyline, blue hues for the cop storyline, and red (or orange, per one critic) hues for the rock star storyline.

A critic described the show's use of multiple color palettes to distinguish timelines as 'notable but not distracting.'