The idea of a family of comical monsters was first pitched to Universal Studios by animator Bob Clampett, who developed it as a series of cartoons between 1943 and 1945, though the project stalled at that time.

According to writer Allan Burns, he and Chris Hayward essentially borrowed the concept from Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons, but Universal opted to use its own Frankenstein and Dracula characters instead of the ones originally written.

Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis were cast first, in February 1964, largely because they had just finished Car 54, Where Are You? and had strong on-screen chemistry.

The show went through multiple pilots before settling on its cast: Joan Marshall originally played Herman's wife (named Phoebe) and was replaced by Yvonne De Carlo because she resembled Morticia Addams too closely, while young Nate 'Happy' Derman, who played Eddie as a nasty brat, was replaced by Butch Patrick.

CBS still ordered a fourth pilot after liking De Carlo and Patrick, simply to tone down Eddie's spoiled personality.

The unaired color pitch pilot ran about 16 minutes and later had its script reused as the basis for the second broadcast episode, 'My Fair Munster'.

The Munsters' house was actually a repurposed set originally built on Universal's Stage 12 for the 1946 film So Goes My Love, then stored and reassembled with other houses on the backlot's 'River Road' before being redressed and distressed for the show in 1964.

As a running gag, parts of the Munster house set were often shown damaged, usually due to Herman's tantrums or clumsiness, but the damage would mysteriously not persist between scenes.

Herman, Lily and Grandpa's makeup evolved over the first season: Lily's white hair streak was reduced, her necklace changed from a star to a bat, and Herman's face was widened to look dopier and less frightening, while Gwynne added a stutter for comic effect when Herman got angry.

The Munster Koach and the dragster DRAG-U-LA were designed by Tom Daniel and built by customizer George Barris; the Koach was built on a lengthened 1926 Ford Model T chassis, measured 18 feet long, and cost almost $20,000, while Barris said DRAG-U-LA was built from an actual purchased coffin.

The instrumental theme song, composed by Jack Marshall and described as a 'Bernard Herrmann meets Duane Eddy' sound, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1965, though lyrics written by coproducer Bob Mosher were never aired.

Rob Zombie's 1998 single 'Dragula' takes its title from Grandpa's dragster DRAG-U-LA, and its music video partly mimics the Munsters riding in the car.

A guitar riff sample from the show's theme song was used in Fall Out Boy's song 'Uma Thurman'.

A 1965 speech by Herman to Eddie about how appearance doesn't matter as much as character, from the episode 'Eddie's Nickname,' went viral in 2020 amid renewed attention to civil-rights themes.

The series was canceled after ratings dropped due to competition from ABC's Batman, with Butch Patrick blaming Batman directly for taking away their audience, though The Munsters later found much larger success in syndication.