Jim Henson conceived Dinosaurs in 1988 as a sitcom about a family of dinosaurs, and according to a Henson executive, people initially thought the idea was crazy until The Simpsons proved that adult-oriented animated/puppet sitcoms could succeed.

In the late 1980s Henson had worked with fantasy artist William Stout on a feature film starring animatronic dinosaurs called The Natural History Project, and he reportedly kept working on a dinosaur project until the last months of his life.

Disney's television division began developing the series in 1990 for CBS before it ultimately landed on ABC, a network Disney later acquired.

The Sinclair family name is a reference to the Sinclair Oil Corporation, which used a dinosaur as its logo, and many other character surnames (Phillips, Hess, B.P., Richfield, Ethyl) are nods to rival petroleum companies.

The extensive use of animatronics made Dinosaurs very costly to produce; actor Stuart Pankin recalled hearing it was the most expensive half-hour TV show at the time, which contributed to its eventual cancellation.

Multiple performers physically operated each dinosaur character over the show's run, with different puppeteers handling the face and body for characters like Earl and Fran across different seasons.

The show reused a small set of full-body puppet designs, called 'Unisaurs,' to portray dozens of minor one-off characters throughout the series, changing only the voice and sometimes the face performer.

The series finale depicted the Sinclairs' environmentally destructive behavior leading to an ice age and their extinction; ABC president Ted Harbert reportedly expressed discomfort with the ending during a phone call but allowed it to air, and creator Michael Jacobs said the episode would likely have gone viral on social media if released in 2018.