The docuseries is a follow-up to Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023), a concert film that documented the tour's Los Angeles shows filmed August 3–5, 2023 at SoFi Stadium and became the most profitable concert film of all time.

In 2024, fans noticed a prominent presence of filming crew and equipment at shows during the tour's last leg, fueling speculation that a documentary was being made; some interviewed fans reportedly signed non-disclosure agreements.

Swift announced the series on Good Morning America on October 13, 2025, revealing it would premiere on Disney+ on December 12, the day before her 36th birthday, alongside a separate concert film of the tour's final Vancouver show titled The Eras Tour: The Final Show.

On December 9, 2025, Swift held an intimate advance screening of the first two episodes for her touring crew, family, and friends in New York City.

The series features interviews and archive footage of guest performers who joined Swift on tour, including Ed Sheeran, Florence Welch, Sabrina Carpenter and Gracie Abrams.

A preview special featuring the first episode alongside one hour of The Final Show aired on ABC on December 12, 2025, before the remaining episodes rolled out on December 19 and 23.

FlixPatrol ranked The End of an Era as the No. 1 series on Disney+ globally as of December 15, 2025, and Nielsen reported it earned 377 million minutes of watch time from December 22–28, making it the tenth most-streamed original series that week.

Critics praised the series' candidness, with Stylist's Rose Gallagher calling it 'the most candid access we have ever had to Swift,' while some reviewers noted it achieved an authenticity that Lana Wilson's Miss Americana had not.