The anime project was proposed to Shogakukan's editorial department just after the manga's fifth or sixth chapter, but no broadcast slot was available at the time; it only moved forward in early 1995 when a Monday 7:30pm slot opened up following 'Magic Knight Rayearth'.

Director Kodama Kenji, producer Suwa Michihiko and producer Yoshioka Masahito spent eight months before the premiere designing a consistent format so viewers could recognize the show from any point, comparing their goal to a taiyaki filled with red bean paste 'to the very tip of the tail'.

The production team wanted drama-quality music similar to the detective series 'Taiyou ni Hoero!', so the music producer directly approached that show's composer Ono Kaoru, asking him to create 'a mystery drama that adults can also enjoy' rather than simply 'anime music', and Ono agreed.

Takayama Minami was cast as Conan largely because she had voiced the protagonist in Aoyama Gosho's previous manga 'YAIBA', making it an easy choice for the staff, and she had already been voicing Conan in promotional CMs the year before the series began.

Yamazaki Wakana had already been cast as Ran without audition for early promotional CMs, but she still took part in the official audition for the role and was unanimously chosen for her outstanding performance, effectively being reconfirmed in the part.

Kamiya Akira was cast as Mouri Kogoro by producer Suwa because Suwa had previously worked with him on 'City Hunter' and 'YAWARA!' and felt that shows he did with Kamiya tended to run for a long time; his successor Koyama Rikiya was later chosen through an audition unanimously approved by the producers and Aoyama himself.

To avoid content deemed unsuitable for prime-time family viewing, blood in crime scenes has always been colored black instead of red, corpses' faces from hanging or burning are not clearly drawn, and since around 2004 victims' open eyes from the manga are often shown closed or in silhouette in the anime.

Since the manga was still in its early stages when the anime began, original (non-manga) episodes were introduced from episode 6 onward, 'The Valentine's Day Murder Case', following discussions with creator Aoyama Gosho to prevent the anime from catching up to the source material.