Reno 911! originated from a canceled Fox pilot that was scrapped the day before shooting; with a month left and half the budget unused, the team was allowed to make another pilot, leading to Reno 911! being conceived and shot in just five days.

As originally written, the sheriff's department material was meant only as link segments between traditional comedy sketches for a Fox Saturday lineup, but during shooting and editing the creators realized the police element was more compelling than the sketches, resulting in a pilot remarkably similar to the eventual series.

Fox reportedly turned down the original pilot partly because of a scene, later preserved in the Comedy Central pilot, showing Lt. Dangle passionately kissing a man.

Cedric Yarbrough had been hired for the cast of the canceled Fox pilot and was advised by producers to invent his own character and return for filming, which led directly into Reno 911!.

The Reno Sheriff's Department station's exterior and interior shots were actually filmed at a real Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department substation in Carson, California, while establishing shots were filmed on location in Reno, Nevada.

According to the third season DVD commentary, all of a season's morning briefing room scenes could be filmed in a single 10-hour day, with actors improvising different dialogue to be used across different episodes.

Starting with the fifth season, some segments were filmed in the small town of Piru, California, a location also used for filming the seventh season revival in early 2020.

Actors Ian Roberts and Joe Lo Truglio, both of whom had appeared as guest stars in earlier seasons and in the Reno 911!: Miami film, joined the principal cast in season six as Sergeant Jack Declan and Deputy Frank Salvatore Rizzo; Roberts is a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv troupe.

After Comedy Central canceled the show in 2009 after a six-year run, Reno residents and officials petitioned to save it.

Quibi renewed Reno 911! for an eighth season but then announced it was shutting down during production; the season, titled Reno 911! Defunded, ultimately debuted on The Roku Channel instead.