The series was created by the alumni association of the Korean Academy of Film Arts to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the academy's founding, with direction entrusted to its alumni Song Tae Gyeom, Ho Jin Ho, Hong Ji Yeon, and Kim Se In.

It was initially planned to shoot only a short film, but the project later developed into a full series.

Each of the four directors shot separate episodes independently: Song Tae Gyeom directed episodes 1-2, Ho Jin Ho directed episodes 3-4, Hong Ji Yeon directed episodes 5-6, and Kim Se In directed episodes 7-8.

Director Ho Jin Ho explained that initially they tried to create a sense of narrative continuity, but ultimately concluded that each part should exist independently—with each new director's arrival, the protagonist essentially became a different character.

Production was financially supported by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, but in August 2023 reports emerged about difficulties finding investors due to online platforms' reluctance to take on a series about sexual minorities, as three of the four stories directly address themes of homosexuality and HIV.

Lengthy and unsuccessful casting calls for the lead role came to nothing until producers directly contacted actor Nam Yoon Su, who himself expressed interest in playing writer Go Yeon.

Actor Jin Ho Eun was cast as Sim Gyu Ho through a casting call among 3,800 candidates.

Actor Kwon Hyok recounted that many acquaintances discouraged him from another gay role following the web series The New Employee (2022), fearing it would cement a one-dimensional image of him, but he was convinced by the director's confidence and the quality of the source material and adaptation.

In the original novel, the character nicknamed 'Ttungo' had a nickname meaning 'fat cat', but since the actor Nam Yoon Su who played him is tall and thin, the nickname transformed into a wordplay meaning 'puffed cat'; the novel's author commented on the appearance mismatch with the words: 'the beauty of the actor ensures the plausibility of romance.'

The series features one original song—'Erotic Joke' by singer Suran from her single album Pastel, released on October 24, 2024, which became the soundtrack for episode 5; director Hong Ji Yeon, who directed episodes 5-6, was one of the lyricists.

On October 14, 2024, conservative groups in South Korea demanded that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism withdraw funding for the series and began protests against its broadcast, claiming that 'propaganda' of homosexuality would negatively affect children; the protests led to the temporary removal of trailers.

On October 21, 2024, another protest took place outside the offices of TVING and CJ Group; actor Nam Yoon Su stated that he had received hateful comments for agreeing to play a gay character.

After its release, the series ranked first among search queries on the TVING platform, and on the international service Rakuten Viki it entered the top 5 most-watched programs in America, Europe, and Oceania in the first week of broadcast with an average rating of 9.6 out of 10.

The popularity of the series and the film with the same title, which came out a few weeks apart, led to a 490% increase in sales of the original novel in October-November 2024 on the Yes24 portal, primarily driven by audiences aged 20-29.