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The series is a remake of Kenneth Johnson's 1983 miniseries, chronicling the arrival of a technologically advanced but sinister alien species on Earth.

Producer Scott Peters said that when people were asked what they remembered most from the original franchise, the top answers were the huge ships, the red uniforms, eating the hamster, and the alien baby, and the new show aimed to put its own spin on these iconic moments.

Unlike the 1983 original's latex-mask reveal of the reptilian Visitors, the new series aimed for a look that was 'not so much latex mask as it is real flesh and blood.'

Production was temporarily suspended in August 2009 due to a Writers Guild of America dispute filed by original creator Kenneth Johnson, after Warner Bros. tried to remove his 'created by' credit by arguing the new show was fundamentally different from his original premise; the Guild sided with Johnson and he kept the credit.

ABC deliberately split the first season into broadcast 'pods,' airing four episodes in November 2009 before pausing for the 2010 Winter Olympics and resuming the remaining eight episodes in March 2010.

Some critics and journalists interpreted the series as an allegory for Barack Obama's presidency, noting the show's debut coincided with the first anniversary of his election and pointing to in-show phrases like 'hope,' 'change,' and 'Universal Health Care' offered by the Visitors.

Actress Morena Baccarin said she modeled her character Anna after real politicians, and that the show's original intended direction (Visitors secretly instigating plagues and wars over centuries) was altered as the series went through two or three different showrunners, leading ABC to be unsure of the show's direction.

After ABC cancelled the series in 2011, fans launched a letter-writing campaign called 'Project Alice' urging Warner Bros. to revive the show on TNT or The CW, both owned by Time Warner, but the effort was ultimately unsuccessful.