The series was originally titled Murray Hill and was created by Mindy Kaling, landing at Hulu on April 4, 2024 after a bidding war among multiple buyers and a script-to-series commitment.

Hulu officially ordered the project to series on February 18, 2025, at which point it was renamed from Murray Hill to Not Suitable for Work.

The show is executive produced by Mindy Kaling alongside Charlie Grandy and Howard Klein, with Grandy also serving as showrunner, and is produced by Kaling International, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Television.

The five leads—Ella Hunt, Avantika, Will Angus, Jack Martin, and Nicholas Duvernay—were all cast on the same day, August 28, 2025.

Jay Ellis joined the cast as a series regular on September 24, 2025, before a large group of recurring cast members, including Constance Wu, Victor Garber, and Greg Germann, were announced on November 5, 2025.

After premiering on Hulu, the series ranked No. 4 on Hulu's daily 'Top 15 Today' list, jumped to No. 1 the next day, and stayed on the list from its premiere through July 9.

Streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol reported that Not Suitable for Work ranked as the second most-watched series on Disney+ globally following its premiere, and it reached No. 1 on Disney+ in Australia, New Zealand, and Belgium.

The series received mixed reviews from critics, holding a 50% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 20 reviews and a Metacritic score of 53 out of 100 based on 13 critics.