The series is a spin-off of El marginal (2016-2022), but set in a women's maximum-security prison instead of a men's prison.

The project was first rumored in February 2024, reportedly centered on the characters Sergio Antín and Gladys Guerra, and was officially confirmed in March 2024 under the working title 'Barro' before being changed to 'En el barro' in July 2024.

China Suárez initially joined the first season with a small role, with her character being upgraded to the main cast for the second season.

Argentine singer María Becerra made a special guest appearance in the first season and is set to return with her character in the third season.

For the third season, new creative talent joined the team, including Paula Hernández as director and writer, Pablo Fendrik as director, and Marcos Osorio Vidal as writer, while Gerardo Romano and Marco Antonio Caponi were confirmed to join the cast.

The fictional women's prison 'La Quebrada' was built inside an abandoned tobacco factory located in San Martín, near Buenos Aires.

Principal photography began on July 2, 2024, in Buenos Aires, with season one wrapping on September 14, 2024, and season two filmed back-to-back, running from September 23 to November 22, 2024.

Critic Diego Batlle compared the series to Argentine films Atrapadas (1984) and Correccional de mujeres (1986), and likened its diversity of characters to Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019).

In its debut weekend, the show reached third place among the most-watched series worldwide on Netflix and became the most-watched non-English language series globally, entering the top 10 in 69 countries.

According to Netflix data, the series set a record for the most hours viewed in a single week for a non-English language Netflix series, accumulating 5.6 million hours viewed in its first week.