The series is based on Robert Garaev's book 'The Word of the Boy: Criminal Tatarstan of the 1970s–2010s', published in 2020, about the real 'Kazan phenomenon' of youth gangs. Garaev himself served as a consultant on the show and is the prototype for the main character Andrey, who like Garaev joined a gang after a teacher asked him to tutor two gang members.

Preparation for filming took nearly six months, during which director Zhora Kryzhovnikov and screenwriter Andrey Zolotarev interviewed former gang members and police officers, and Kryzhovnikov watched numerous archival episodes of the Soviet TV programs 'Vremya' and 'Vzglyad' as well as reading 1988-1989 issues of the magazines 'Ogonyok' and 'Smena'.

Nearly 1,200 people auditioned for the series, with 240 selected in Kazan and 40 in Naberezhnye Chelny.

Actor Lev Zulkarnaev originally auditioned specifically for the role of Zima and had no interest in playing any other character; he said he personally added the 'lightness, irony and humanity' to the character based on his own input.

Although the story is set in Kazan, local authorities were reportedly opposed to filming there, so production actually took place in the city of Yaroslavl.

Costume designer Darya Fomina meticulously studied the late Soviet period and sourced clothing from Avito, flea markets and costume warehouses, dressing over 1,100 characters including extras; Andrey's early grey coat with dark fur collar and ushanka hat was inspired by the protagonist of Vadim Abdrashitov's film 'Plumbum, or a Dangerous Game'.

On 12 December 2023, unfinished working versions of episodes 7 and 8 leaked online before their scheduled release; the creators then decided to reshoot the finale, with Kryzhovnikov comparing the leaked cut to someone grabbing raw, unpeeled ingredients from a restaurant kitchen and serving them as a finished dish.

Zolotarev explained the reshoot was also needed because the original finale scenes were filmed in the wrong season (there was 'snow without snow', meaning shooting had originally happened in warm weather), and because the writers wanted to rewrite certain story threads they felt needed proper closure.

No original music was composed for the series; music producer Denis Dubovik said almost all songs were taken from the 1980s-90s or were modern tracks chosen to match that era's atmosphere.

The song 'Pyyala' by the band Aigel, from a 2020 album, shot to the top of Shazam's global chart in December 2023 after appearing in the series without the band being credited in the credits, since Aigel had been removed from the credits after emigrating from Russia and making an anti-war statement; viewers used Shazam en masse to identify the unknown track.

The series set a record on Kinopoisk Pro's interest index, scoring 4436 points in one week, far surpassing the previous record of 1566 points held by 'Squid Game' (2021).

A December 2023 murder of a 15-year-old boy by a group of teenagers in Irkutsk was linked by some media and the victim's relatives to the show's influence, prompting a State Duma deputy to request investigations by the Investigative Committee and Roskomnadzor; Russian police denied any connection, and Roskomnadzor found no legal violations.

According to the Kremlin Leaks journalistic project, the series was presented in spring 2023 at a Russian presidential administration meeting as part of a 'Creative content for elections' presentation, intended to boost public perception of positive changes and traditional values ahead of elections; edited clips from the show were later used in 2024 to encourage people to vote.

Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications condemned the series as 'hostile propaganda' promoting violence and crime associated with the aggressor country, despite the show's soundtrack topping Ukrainian charts, sparking debate over Ukrainians consuming Russian content during the war.