The Comeback was conceived in 2004 by Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King after the final seasons of Friends and Sex and the City, on which King had been a writer, director, and executive producer.

The character of Valerie Cherish grew out of a recurring improv character Kudrow developed with The Groundlings in Los Angeles, an egotistical, self-unaware celebrity she called 'your favourite actress on a talkshow.'

Kudrow cited The Office as an influence on the show's found-footage documentary style, along with the rise of reality television and the humiliation it often inflicted on participants.

The series was shot with a two-camera crew, and each season uses a different in-universe conceit for its footage: a reality show pilot in season 1, a repurposed documentary in season 2, and a mix of single-camera filming with social media, digital and security footage in season 3.

Malin Åkerman's role as Juna Millken marked her first-ever acting role.

Seth Rogen appears as himself in season 2, playing a fictionalized version of Paulie G on the show-within-the-show Seeing Red.

Despite airing in a coveted post-Entourage time slot, The Comeback debuted to low ratings and received a mixed critical response before HBO canceled it after just 13 weeks, though it was later retrospectively lauded, including a spot on Entertainment Weekly's 'New TV Classics' and 'Best Cult TV Shows' lists.

The series' final episode of season 2, 'Valerie Gets What She Really Wants,' received near-universal critical praise with 10/10 and A-range scores.

On July 21, 2020, the cast reunited for the live-streamed web series Stars in the House to raise money for the Actors Fund of America.