The miniseries was greenlit by Disney+ in February 2022 for National Geographic, written by creators Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, with Susanna Fogel directing multiple episodes.

Bel Powley was cast as Miep Gies in April 2022, alongside Liev Schreiber as Otto Frank and Joe Cole as Jan Gies, with Amira Casar, Billie Boullet and Ashley Brooke joining in June 2022, Boullet taking on the role of Anne Frank.

Production began around July 2022, with filming taking place in Hradec Králové and Prague in the Czech Republic as well as in Amsterdam during summer 2022.

The series' soundtrack was executive produced and co-produced by Este Haim and features cover songs performed by artists such as Danielle Haim, Kamasi Washington, Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen, Weyes Blood, Remi Wolf, King Princess, Orville Peck, and Moses Sumney; the soundtrack album was released on May 23, 2023.

On Rotten Tomatoes, A Small Light holds a 100% approval rating with an average score of 8.80/10 based on 34 critic reviews, while Metacritic gave it a score of 83 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating 'universal acclaim'.

According to Screen Rant, the series generated over 11 million recorded attention signals across online platforms shortly after release, including the second-greatest hype on YouTube among May 2023 releases.

The series premiered on National Geographic on May 1, 2023, before being released on Disney+ and Hulu the next day, and later airing on Freeform on May 6, 2023.