The series was officially announced by Tiger Aspect Productions in October 2000 and was valued at $15 million, being pre-sold to ITV before an animation studio was even attached.

A month after the initial announcement, Varga was confirmed as the studio to handle animation production for the first series.

Rowan Atkinson reprised his role by providing his voice for Mr. Bean starting with the new animated series announced by CITV in January 2014.

Compared to his live-action counterpart, the animated Mr. Bean is portrayed as more competent and less buffoonish, and speaks in complete sentences rather than the mumbled, low-pitched words used in the original sitcom.

The Mini's registration number was changed from 'SLW 287R' in the live-action show to 'STE 952R' in the animated series, and the Reliant Regal's plate changed from 'GRA 26K' to 'DUW 742'.

When the series launched in the United States in April 2003, it aired through various public television stations with A&E Home Video acquiring home media rights.

Five episodes of the first series were classified PG rather than U by the British Board of Film Classification, leading distributors to exclude them from the main UK and Australian DVD volumes and instead release them only as extras on live-action sitcom DVDs.

The show inspired several video games, including a third-person platform game released as 'Mr. Bean' on PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and Windows, later ported to Wii as 'Mr. Bean's Wacky World' with a North American release in 2011.