The series began pre-production in late 1979 at DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, but after that studio dissolved and Marvel Productions was formed in 1980, the new studio took over and this solo Spider-Man series became Marvel Productions' very first project.

The series was entirely funded by Marvel Comics, partly to entice NBC into greenlighting a Spider-Man property, which ultimately led to the creation of the separate Saturday morning series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

Because it was meant to be syndicated alongside the 1967 Spider-Man series, the show retained elements from that earlier series, such as the character Betty Brant (largely absent from the comics by then) and Peter Parker's blue jacket and yellow turtleneck civilian outfit.

Being a syndicated show rather than network programming, it faced fewer broadcast standards restrictions than Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, allowing depictions like guns that weren't permitted on Saturday morning network TV, giving it greater fidelity to the comics.

Animator Larry Houston inserted hidden Marvel references into the show, including changing a background television from showing a soap opera to depicting the Avengers (Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Vision) fighting an unnamed enemy.

For the episode 'Arsenic and Aunt May,' storyboard artist Larry Houston made sure several key poses in the final confrontation were exact restagings of Steve Ditko's original artwork from Spider-Man's debut in Amazing Fantasy #15.

Despite being completed by the end of 1981, the series struggled to find distribution and did not air that year; a December 1982 trade article even described it as 'The Animated Spider-Man Series You May Never Get to See.'

A prolonged legal dispute between distributor ARP Films and Marvel over videocassette rights, initiated in 1986, resulted in a jury awarding ARP $1,220,000 in damages, though Marvel was also awarded $137,000 for ARP's own contractual breaches.