Robert Pastorelli's character Eldin, originally hired as a house painter who took six seasons to finish the job, left the show in season 7 when the actor departed to star in his own sitcom, Double Rush.

Jane Leeves' character Audrey, Miles' girlfriend, disappeared from the show without explanation because Leeves left to join the cast of Frasier in 1993.

There was a running gag about Frank Fontana's toupée, which actor Joe Regalbuto reportedly disliked but which producers insisted he continue wearing on the show.

The pilot episode of a fictional show-within-the-show, Kelly Green, featured Murphy Brown guest starring as herself, and real journalist Connie Chung appeared as herself to criticize Murphy's on-screen performance.

For the series finale, computer editing was used to insert archival footage of real journalist Edward R. Murrow, who had died in 1965, into a dream sequence with Murphy.

Diane English, the show's creator, made a cameo appearance as a nurse in the original series finale.

In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle publicly criticized the Murphy Brown character for having a child out of wedlock, sparking a real political controversy that the show later satirized by using actual footage from his speech in an episode titled 'You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato.'

The season-long storyline of Murphy's breast cancer battle was credited with a 30 percent increase in women getting mammograms that year, and Candice Bergen received an award from the American Cancer Society for her role in raising awareness.

The 2018 revival was developed after Warner Bros. Television approached Diane English following Donald Trump's election, and English spent nine months developing the concept before writing a script; Candice Bergen agreed to return only on the condition that Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto, and Grant Shaud also join.

The revival's premiere episode featured a secretly guest-starring Hillary Clinton, whose appearance was kept out of press screeners until the episode aired.