The series was created by Abby Mann, who developed it from the 1963 Wylie-Hoffert murders case in Manhattan, in which an innocent man was wrongly pinned for the crime due to poor and corrupt police work before being exonerated.

Mann's story emphasized institutionalized prejudice and suspects' civil rights, connecting the case to the creation of Miranda rights by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966; the project began as the 1973 TV movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders, which served as the pilot for the series.

In the pilot movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders, Telly Savalas played a detective whose surname was spelled 'Kojack'; the character was a composite based on several real detectives, lawyers, and reporters involved in the Wylie-Hoffert case.

Telly Savalas's real-life brother, George Savalas, played Detective Stavros and was credited under the pseudonym 'Demosthenes' during the first two seasons.

Although Kojak's catchphrase 'Who loves ya, baby?' became iconic, he actually said the full phrase only three times across the entire 118-episode original run.

Kojak's lollipop habit was introduced in the Season 1 episode 'Dark Sunday' (aired December 12, 1973) as a way to show him cutting down on cigarettes, following increased public awareness of smoking dangers after the 1971 ban on cigarette ads on American TV; he pops a Tootsie Pop into his mouth and jokes he's 'looking to close the generation gap.'

The original Kojak theme by Billy Goldenberg had lyrics written by Bill Dyer, and the song 'We'll Make It This Time (Theme from Kojak)' was performed by Sammy Davis Jr. on his 1976 album The Song and Dance Man.

David and Leslie Newman's original script for Superman: The Movie featured a cameo by Savalas as Kojak, with Superman mistaking him for Lex Luthor and accidentally capturing him; the scene was cut once Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz steered the film toward a more serious tone.