According to Pierre Niney, Fiasco is mainly inspired by the chaotic filming of Babylon A.D. (2008) by Mathieu Kassovitz, as well as by the making-of documentary Fucking Kassovitz (2011) which revealed its disastrous behind-the-scenes.

Pierre Niney announced the project on October 27, 2022 on Instagram, specifying that he was coproducing this series directed by his friend Igor Gotesman, already director of Family Business and the film Five.

Fiasco brings together Igor Gotesman, Pierre Niney and François Civil once again, who had already collaborated on the series Casting(s) (2013-2015) and the film Five (2016); Niney described Fiasco as a "dream" they had been carrying since those previous projects.

The filming, which took place from January 17 to April 19, 2023 under the working title "Making Of", took place in Île-de-France: in Paris (notably at the cinema les 7 Batignolles), in Nandy and Saint-Chéron in Seine-et-Marne, in Noisiel in the facilities of the former Menier chocolate factory, in the former quarry of la Troche in Orsay for a prehistoric scene, and in Bruyères-le-Châtel.

Vincent Cassel's participation in the series was only revealed by Pierre Niney on March 11, 2024, a few weeks before its release, at the same time as the announcement of the broadcast date.

Fiasco received mixed critical reception: 83% on Rotten Tomatoes (average rating of 7/10) against only 3.3/5 on Allociné based on French press reviews, with some criticizing the series for leaving too much room for actor improvisation.

The series was number 1 most-watched series in France on Netflix in its first week, accumulating 6 million hours viewed and ranking seventh in the Netflix Top 10 worldwide for non-English-language titles.

Despite its success, Igor Gotesman announced on May 2, 2024 that there would theoretically never be a season 2, having designed Fiasco as a closed limited series.