The show originated when writers Vik Rubenfeld and Pat Page, who met playing volleyball in Manhattan Beach, developed the idea of a man who gets tomorrow's newspaper today, first thinking of it as a feature film before realizing it worked better as a TV series.

Rubenfeld and Page teamed up with Ian Abrams to pitch the show to Tristar; the trio also decided the paper should always be delivered alongside a mysterious cat.

To hook Tristar during the pitch meeting on August 24, 1995, Ian Abrams had a mock newspaper made with the headline 'Let's just let it end. O. J. Simpson confesses he is guilty of homicide,' dated the following day, August 25, 1995; the trick sparked a lively debate until executives noticed the date, and the show was greenlit soon after.

The premise has often been compared to the 1944 film It Happened Tomorrow, about a reporter who receives tomorrow's newspaper in advance, but Early Edition's creators insist their show was in no way based on that film.

The series was filmed in Chicago and nearby towns in Illinois and Indiana, with interior sets built on the Early Edition Sound Stage at Studio City in Chicago.

The exterior of McGinty's bar, a central location in the series, was actually a former Chicago Fire Department building located at the corner of Franklin Street and West Illinois Street.

The show's opening theme was composed by W.G. Snuffy Walden, who later also wrote the theme for Friday Night Lights, another series starring Kyle Chandler.

Starting with episode 403, the opening title sequence was revamped to use an edited version of 'Time Has Come Today' by The Chambers Brothers for the rest of the series.

Fisher Stevens, who played Chuck Fishman, left the show as a regular after season two, prompting major changes including a shift in narration duties and the theme music, though he continued to make guest appearances.

A season two episode ended with a colorized clip of Rod Serling telling viewers they had just watched a tale from The Twilight Zone, and the same season featured a crossover with Chicago Hope using that show's actors reprising their roles.

In 2022, CBS ordered a reboot pilot produced by Affirm Television, Sony Pictures Television and CBS Studios with Alice Eve, Charles Michael Davis, Jay Ali and Fiona Rene cast, but CBS decided not to move forward with it in May 2022.