The series was produced by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions in association with CBS Television Studios and Sony Pictures Television, with Sony controlling North American rights and CBS controlling international rights.

Adhir Kalyan's character Timmy started as a recurring guest in season 3 before being promoted to a regular cast member from seasons 4 through 7.

Despite receiving negative reviews throughout its run, the show earned three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and maintained solid ratings that allowed it to reach the 100-episode syndication threshold over seven seasons.

The series was heavily promoted by CBS during Super Bowl XLI and premiered the following night; its pilot episode remained the highest-rated episode of the entire series run.

Production on the second season halted after nine episodes in November 2007 due to the Writers Guild of America strike, with the remaining six episodes not airing until April 2008 after the strike ended.

CBS ordered two additional episodes of the fifth season as a contingency plan in case Two and a Half Men went on hiatus following Charlie Sheen's real-life controversies; two of these extra episodes ended up airing as part of season six instead.

A Polish adaptation of the show titled Reguły gry ("Rules of the Game") was produced by Polish channel TVN and premiered on February 16, 2012, as the first original production of its sister channel TVN 7.

The show frequently changed timeslots and nights over its run, airing at various points on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, including a stint on CBS's new 'Comedytime Saturday' block in 2011, the first original CBS program on that night in six years.