The Kamen Rider series began in 1971 after Mainichi Broadcasting System requested a new show from Toei; Toru Hirayama and Seiji Abe developed it based on Shotaro Ishinomori's concept, broadcast on the NET (now TV Asahi) network.

During production of the first series, lead actor Hiroshi Fujioka suffered a serious injury in a filming accident, forcing him to take a break; the show responded by introducing Kamen Rider 2 (Hayato Ichimonji) with the in-story excuse that Hongo had 'moved to fight in Europe'.

After the introduction of the second Rider and new elements like the transformation pose, ratings soared past 20% and later over 30% once Fujioka returned and the 'Double Riders' storyline began, sparking a nationwide henshin (transformation) boom.

The premiere episode of Kamen Rider V3 achieved a 32% rating in the Kansai region, the highest in the entire franchise's history.

Motorcycles became a core element of the Kamen Rider identity because Ryuichi Hirose, the Mainichi Broadcasting programming director and a major motorcycle enthusiast, insisted during the first series' planning stage that the new hero needed a sense of speed.

Actor Tetsuo Kurata, who starred in Kamen Rider BLACK and BLACK RX, recalled having virtually no days off during production, shooting six days a week, being called to events on the seventh, sometimes sleeping on a sofa in the studio staff room, and getting up at 4am after filming until around midnight.

To avoid broadcast standards issues, the 'cyborg' (kaizo ningen) origin setting used for Showa-era Riders was dropped in the Heisei series, replaced by transformations via transcendent power or advanced technology-based equipment.

Almost every Kamen Rider mask features a 'tear line' design resembling crying eyes, symbolizing the sorrow of a hero destined to fight against his own kind.

Starting in September 2025 with Kamen Rider ZETSU, the franchise began simultaneous multi-country streaming with dubbing in Chinese, Korean, Arabic and Thai, moved up filming start times from three months to six months before broadcast, and pursued overseas-oriented design and marketing, including an English-language X account and a toy exhibition event in Shanghai, as part of a plan to turn the series into a global IP.