The series was created by Sidney Sheldon in response to the success of rival network ABC's Bewitched, and Sheldon got the idea for a beautiful female genie after being inspired by the 1964 film The Brass Bottle.

Sheldon specifically did not want a blonde genie, fearing it would make the character too similar to Bewitched's lead, and after many unsuccessful auditions he called Barbara Eden's agent; coincidentally, Eden had already co-starred in The Brass Bottle, the film that inspired the show.

The show was filmed in black and white for its first season specifically to facilitate the special photographic effects needed for the magic sequences, even though NBC had switched most of its prime-time lineup to color that fall.

Sheldon offered to personally pay the extra $400 per episode needed to film season one in color, but a Screen Gems executive advised him not to, believing the series wouldn't reach a second season.

Although the show was set in Cape Kennedy and Cocoa Beach, Florida, it was actually filmed in California, using the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base for exterior office shots and the Warner Bros. Ranch in Burbank for Major Nelson's house, with Hollywood Hills sometimes visible in the background.

The cast and crew visited Florida's Space Coast only twice, both in 1969, including a mock wedding of Eden and Hagman staged for television writers at Patrick Air Force Base, timed to coincide with the airing of the real wedding episode.

During a real 1969 promotional visit to Cocoa Beach, Barbara Eden kissed astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the cheek just two weeks before the Apollo 11 launch.

Jeannie's iconic bottle was not custom-made for the show but was an actual Christmas 1964 Jim Beam liquor decanter for 'Beam's Choice' bourbon, designed by Roy Kramer for the Wheaton Bottle Company; accounts differ on who first brought it to the production, with strong evidence pointing to first-season director Gene Nelson finding it in a liquor store.

Production crew estimated around 12 bottles in total were painted and used throughout the series, since the stunt bottle used for smoke effects was frequently broken by the heat and chemicals involved.

Songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote a theme song called 'Jeannie' for Sidney Sheldon before the series began, but it was ultimately not used.

The season-one jazz waltz theme by Richard Wess was replaced from season two onward by a new theme composed by Hugo Montenegro with lyrics by Buddy Kaye, though those lyrics were never actually used on the show.

A 1985 recording of the Jeannie theme was later sampled in several songs, including DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's debut single 'Girls Ain't Nothing but Trouble' and a 1990 remix of Dimples D.'s 'Sucker DJ'.

Jeannie's backstory was retconned partway through the series: in season one she was said to have originally been a mortal human turned into a genie by 'The Blue Djinn,' but by season three the dialogue implied she had always been a genie, a change retained for the rest of the show.

Multiple episodes were built around real audience contests, such as guessing Jeannie's birthday (determined via NASA's computer to be April 1, 64 BC) and guessing the combination to a safe Jeannie was locked in, with the actual combination not decided until just before broadcast and Larry Hagman's voice dubbed in afterward.