The series was originally titled 'The 13th Hour,' but producer Frank Mancuso Jr. changed it to Friday the 13th because he believed that name would better help sell the show to networks, despite the series having no actual connection to the film franchise.

Creators considered tying in Jason Voorhees' trademark hockey mask to the show, but the idea was discarded so the series could exist on its own without linking directly to events from the films.

The series shares several cast and crew ties with the Friday the 13th film franchise: John D. LeMay later starred in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, guest star John Shepherd had played Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, and episode director David Cronenberg appeared in Jason X.

The show was filmed in Toronto, Canada, and produced on a budget estimated at below $500,000 per episode.

The first season placed second in the male 18-to-49 demographic, just behind Paramount's Star Trek: The Next Generation, and fifth in the female 18-to-49 demographic.

The cast and crew learned of the show's cancellation while filming what became the 20th and final episode of season three, leaving no time to film additional scenes for narrative closure.

A popular but unfounded rumor claimed the series finale was meant to unite the show with the film franchise by having the final recovered cursed item be Jason Voorhees' hockey mask; there was only talk of placing a hockey mask on a set as an in-joke, never a serious plan to merge the properties.

The show's premise of a trio hunting down cursed supernatural artifacts is considered to have influenced later series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The X-Files, and especially Warehouse 13, which has been accused of borrowing heavily from its concept.