The Yogi Bear Show was a spin-off of The Huckleberry Hound Show, marking the first entry in the Yogi Bear franchise produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Voice actor Daws Butler based Yogi Bear's voice on an impersonation of actor Art Carney, and also voiced Snagglepuss by impersonating Bert Lahr.

Several other characters in the segments were built around celebrity impressions: Chopper the Bulldog was voiced by Vance Colvig impersonating Wallace Beery, Fibber Fox was voiced by Daws Butler impersonating comedian Shelley Berman, and Alfy Gator was voiced by Butler doing an impression of Alfred Hitchcock.

Yakky Doodle's voice, performed by Jimmy Weldon, was styled after Donald Duck.

In the United States, the show was distributed in syndication and picked up by independent stations in different cities such as WPIX in New York, KTTV in Los Angeles, KTVU in San Francisco, WGN-TV in Chicago, and KTVT in Dallas, resulting in different air days and times across markets.

In the United Kingdom, the show did not premiere until September 28, 1962, on ITV regions Associated-Rediffusion and Ulster Television, with other regions picking it up later on Christmas Day 1962.

The 2005 Region 1 DVD complete series release used the edited-for-syndication versions of the episodes rather than the original uncut network broadcast masters, due to cost issues.

Two standalone shorts related to the franchise, A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith and Boo Boo Runs Wild, were directed by John Kricfalusi, creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show.