Creator Ben Edlund was producing an independent Tick comic book while still in college before New Jersey toy licensing company Kiscom approached him about merchandising the character, eventually leading Sunbow Entertainment to develop the animated series.

Neither Ben Edlund nor writer Richard Liebmann-Smith had any prior animation or television experience; they spent two months on the first episode script, which Fox initially rejected, before reworking it over one sleep-deprived weekend to satisfy the network.

Edlund remained heavily hands-on as co-producer during production, personally scrutinizing storyboards, which he admits caused the show to be delayed by an entire year.

Edlund deliberately gave the show a deliberately dated look, saying it ended up resembling 'bad 70s superhero animation' rather than typical 90s cartoon style, which he felt gave it unique staying power.

The animated Tick departs from the comic book version, where the Tick is an escaped mental asylum patient; instead, in the cartoon he crashes a superhero convention to win the right to protect The City.

Micky Dolenz voiced Arthur for the first season, but Rob Paulsen took over the role for seasons two and three.

Although The Tick never matched the commercial success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Edlund viewed this relative failure positively, saying it made the show 'a much more sincere proposition' despite reducing his personal wealth.

The Season 1 DVD release omitted the episode 'The Tick vs. The Mole Men' due to licensing problems, and the Season 2 DVD omitted 'Alone Together' (featuring Omnipotus, a Galactus parody), with even the episode's writer Christopher McCulloch stating he did not know why it was excluded.

A Tick-based beat 'em up video game was published by Fox Interactive for the Super NES and Sega Genesis, but it was criticized for excessively long stages with too many enemies and a nonsensical ending.