The idea for the show emerged after actresses Selma Diamond and Doris Roberts performed a skit called "Miami Nice" at a 1984 NBC affiliates event, parodying Miami Vice with older characters, which caught the attention of NBC executive Warren Littlefield.

Producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas had originally been pitching a show about a female lawyer, but NBC asked them instead to develop a pilot based on the "Miami Nice" concept, which Witt's wife Susan Harris agreed to write despite NBC wanting characters around 40 rather than in their 60s.

The original pilot included a live-in gay house attendant named Coco, played by Charles Levin, a role suggested by then-NBC president Brandon Tartikoff; the character was cut after the pilot because there wasn't enough airtime for five regulars and the writers realized a live-in cook made the kitchen-table format of the show impossible.

According to actor Mark Feuerstein, Susan Harris originally intended the show to be about four Jewish women, but the network insisted she rewrite it because they didn't think audiences would be interested in watching four old Jewish women.

Betty White and Rue McClanahan initially were considered for the opposite roles they ended up playing (White as Blanche and McClanahan as Rose) based on their past sitcom personas, but at director Jay Sandrich's suggestion they swapped roles at the last minute to avoid being typecast.

Elaine Stritch auditioned for the role of Dorothy but reportedly "blew" it by improvising crude language; a 2025 panel revealed that producers, dead-set on casting Bea Arthur, treated Stritch coldly and hostilely during the process.

Bea Arthur initially hesitated to join the show, mistakenly believing McClanahan and White were cast in roles that would typecast them from Maude and The Mary Tyler Moore Show; she only agreed after McClanahan clarified the roles had been swapped.

Estelle Getty, who was actually a year younger than Bea Arthur, underwent a three-hour makeup transformation using heavy makeup, thick glasses, and a white wig to portray Dorothy's elderly mother Sophia.

Estelle Getty suffered from severe, worsening stage fright throughout the show's run, eventually needing cue cards and line prompts written on her character's purse; her memory difficulties were later thought to be early signs of the dementia that led to her 2008 death.

The house's exterior was filmed at a real residence in Brentwood, California for the first three and a half seasons, after which a replica facade was built at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida, which later suffered hurricane damage and was eventually demolished to make way for other attractions.

The kitchen set was recycled from an earlier Witt/Thomas/Harris series, It Takes Two, with only the window backdrop changed from a Chicago skyline to palm trees to suggest Miami.

Rue McClanahan negotiated a special contract clause allowing her to keep her custom-made Blanche costumes, which later inspired her own affordable clothing line for QVC called "A Touch of Rue."

After season three, Bea Arthur pushed back against scripts that frequently mocked Dorothy's physical appearance, threatening not to continue unless changes were made; the writers subsequently toned down such jokes.

Debbie Reynolds guest-starred in a season six episode partly to test her on-screen chemistry with the cast as a potential replacement for Bea Arthur, who was considering leaving the show.

According to co-producer Marsha Posner Williams, Bea Arthur and Betty White never became personal friends off-set and had notable tension, reportedly due to differing acting backgrounds and Arthur finding White's habit of joking with the audience between takes unprofessional.