The project was conceived by producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey after watching Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 film The Ten Commandments for the first time since childhood, and it marked Burnett's first scripted project after years of producing reality shows.

When the couple first proposed the project, they were reportedly told to try to tell the story without mentioning Jesus, an instruction they refused to follow, according to consultant Jim Daly of Focus on the Family.

The production consulted a huge range of pastors, academics and religious leaders, including Joel Osteen, a rabbi from Hebrew Union College, a Catholic cardinal, Rick Warren and Luis Palau, and evangelical leader Geoff Tunnicliffe even visited the Morocco set to ensure the scripts held together thematically.

The 10-hour, 10-episode series was shot in Morocco and elsewhere on a budget of under $22 million.

The actor cast as Satan, Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni, sparked controversy when commentator Glenn Beck pointed out a resemblance to then-President Barack Obama, prompting History channel and the producers to publicly deny any intentional connection.

Producers noted that in the movie spin-off Son of God, all scenes featuring the Satan character were cut entirely, with Roma Downey joking that 'the devil is on the cutting-room floor.'

The series' premiere drew 13.1 million viewers, the largest cable television audience of 2013 up to that point, and the miniseries went on to accumulate more than 100 million cumulative views.

Footage from the miniseries, including previously unaired scenes, was later re-edited into the theatrical feature film Son of God (2014), and the story continued in a sequel miniseries, A.D. The Bible Continues, which aired on NBC in 2015.