Creator Simon Barry originally developed the idea for Continuum while pitching to US networks for several years without success. The project was picked up almost by accident when his director friend Pat Williams needed something to pitch to Showcase Network in Canada and had nothing prepared, so Barry gave him the Continuum idea.

Because the show was first set up with Showcase rather than a US network, there was much more appetite for sci-fi and genre-bending concepts, which Barry credits for the show being fully understood and supported from day one.

In a May 2014 interview, Simon Barry revealed he originally had seven to ten seasons planned for Continuum's storyline.

The series was cancelled mid-story but was granted a shortened fourth season of only six episodes to wrap up the narrative, compared to the 10-13 episodes of previous seasons.

Due to the reduced episode count in the final season, several planned storylines had to be dropped, including larger arcs for the characters Emily, Julian, and the Traveler, whose background was meant to be explored in depth to expand the show's mythology.

There were internal discussions about creating an entire season focused on the individual backstories of the Liber8 members, which never came to fruition due to the cancellation.

After the show's cancellation, Simon Barry expressed interest in continuing the Continuum universe in other media, such as a book or graphic novel following the character Kellog, and encouraged fans to explore the universe through fan fiction.

Continuum won the Visual Effects category at the Canadian Screen Awards after being nominated for five Screenies (Best Drama Series, Writing, Direction, Music, and Visual Effects) the day after its U.S. launch on January 15, 2013.

The show received a record 16 Leo Award nominations.

An alternate reality game website called Continuum the Game was created by Zeros 2 Heroes Media Inc., which included an eight-part graphic novel titled Continuum: The War Files depicting the war between the Corporations and Liber8 in 2065, though it was only available in Canada.