The series was cancelled after only 14 episodes due to low ratings, and the final three episodes were only aired in syndication rather than on the original CBS network run.

Executive producers Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who had created Charlie's Angels the year before, were brought on board by MGM after original film producer Saul David was fired from the TV project.

The pilot episode was co-written by William F. Nolan, co-author of the original novel, along with Saul David and series producer Leonard Katzman, but CBS demanded reshoots that introduced a secret cabal of city elders ruling the Domed city, altering Francis 7's motivation for pursuing the runners.

D. C. Fontana, who served as story editor, brought in several other Star Trek writers to work on the series.

Fontana commissioned Harlan Ellison to write a treatment for the episode 'Crypt,' which was heavily revised, and David Gerrold to write the teleplay 'Man Out of Time'; Gerrold's script was rewritten by someone else, prompting him to credit the episode under the pen name 'Noah Ward,' a homonym for 'no award.'

In a 2017 interview, star Heather Menzies revealed that Dirk Benedict and her Sound of Music co-star Nicholas Hammond had also auditioned for the role of Logan 5.

Heather Menzies attributed the show's quick cancellation to insufficient budget for visual effects, noting that Star Wars had been released around the same time and the series could not compete visually.

The Mego Corporation had planned a line of 10-inch action figures based on the series and made prototypes, but cancelled production once the show was cancelled.