Ray Romano got development deals after a five-minute stand-up performance on the Late Show with David Letterman in mid-1995, prompting Letterman's producer to recall that 'by the end we already had lawyers lined up to work a deal with him.'

Philip Rosenthal was chosen as show-runner after sending a Frasier spec script to Letterman's Worldwide Pants, and was intrigued by a tape of Romano's material, which reminded him of Bill Cosby's early work.

Romano originally wanted to do a show about a comedian discussing current issues with friends at a coffee shop, but Rosenthal pointed out that concept already existed as a hit show, so they shifted focus to Romano's family life instead.

Although Romano has a real brother named Robert, he based the show's Robert character on another of his brothers, Richard; Rosenthal similarly based Marie and Debra on his own mother and wife.

CBS executives chose to set the show on Long Island instead of Queens (which Romano and the writers originally wanted) for its broad suburban-with-urban-elements appeal, despite two earlier Long Island-set series each lasting only one season.

The show's title came from a real remark by Romano's brother Richard, who said 'Everybody loves Raymond, don't they?' after Ray won a CableACE stand-up award; the line was later used verbatim by Robert in the pilot.

Because Ray Romano had little prior acting experience, casting director Lisa Miller had to 'Taft-Hartley' him to bypass Screen Actors Guild requirements, and he needed acting trainers to help him play a likable lead.

Brad Garrett was the only actor to audition without Romano present, and he chose to play Robert as 'beaten-down' despite CBS initially wanting a small, Danny DeVito-esque, bulldog-attitude character.

Peter Boyle arrived late and grumpy to his audition due to scheduling mix-ups and poor directions, and Rosenthal admitted he cast Boyle as Frank partly 'out of fear' because of his bitter, in-character mood.

Doris Roberts was cast as Marie after more than 100 actresses were considered; she did zero preparation for her audition, which was unusual for her, and performed purely from her 'gut reaction.'

Rosenthal was very strict about actors sticking to the script and avoiding ad-libbing, though 'alternative' lines were sometimes written into scripts for certain episodes.

The exterior shots of Ray and Debra's house were filmed at a real home in Merrick, New York, located across the street from the house used for Frank and Marie's exteriors, just as depicted in the show.

The show's theme music, composed by Terry Trotter and Rick Marotta, borrows the first few measures from a song in Woody Allen's film Manhattan (1979) before improvising the rest.

Kevin James, a writer and actor on Everybody Loves Raymond, later crossed over his own show The King of Queens with Raymond multiple times, with Ray Barone and Doug Heffernan becoming friends.

Ray Romano appeared as Ray Barone in an episode of The Nanny where Fran Fine attends her high school reunion, referencing the fact that Romano and Fran Drescher were real-life classmates at Hillcrest High School in Queens.

Romano and Peter Boyle appeared in character in a 1997 episode of the CBS sitcom Cosby titled 'Lucas Raymondicus.'

In 2009, creator Philip Rosenthal traveled to Russia to help adapt the show as Voroniny, and the experience was documented in the film Exporting Raymond.