The series was conceived by father-son producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind as a way to use a Superman-related license they still held after selling the main Superman film rights to The Cannon Group, and came after their earlier attempt at a Supergirl film failed in the mid-1980s.

Ironically, the show premiered in October 1988, about a year after DC Comics had erased the character of Superboy from official continuity in John Byrne's 'The Man of Steel' reboot.

John Haymes Newton left the lead role after season one by his own decision, reportedly after being denied a promised 20% salary raise, and was replaced by Gerard Christopher for the remaining three seasons.

Lex Luthor was recast between seasons one and two, with Scott James Wells replaced by Sherman Howard; the in-story explanation was that Luthor had undergone plastic surgery to assume a new identity.

Former James Bond actor George Lazenby and Bond girl Britt Ekland guest-starred as aliens disguised as Superboy's Kryptonian parents Jor-El and Lara in two season two episodes.

Ron Ely, known for playing Doc Savage, guest-starred as an adult, retired version of Superman from an alternate reality in the season three finale 'The Road to Hell'.

Noel Neill and Jack Larson, who had played Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen respectively in earlier Superman productions, made guest appearances together in the season four episode 'Paranoia'.

Superboy was the first weekly TV series produced at the newly opened Disney/MGM Studios before moving to Universal Studios Florida from season two onward, where it became that studio's first weekly television production.

Exterior scenes for the fictional Shuster University were actually filmed on the campus of the University of Central Florida, while the coastal city of Siegelville was depicted using footage of the Sunshine Skyway Bridges in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Clark Kent attends the fictional Siegel School of Journalism at Shuster University in Shusterville, Florida, names that reference Superman's creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Several episodes were written by actual DC Comics writers and editors, including Mike Carlin, Andrew Helfer, Denny O'Neil, Cary Bates, J. M. DeMatteis, and Mark Evanier.

After the series ended, a legal dispute between the Salkinds, Warner Bros., and Viacom over licensing rights prevented any official home video release for years, with fans relying on bootleg VHS and DVD copies sold on eBay until a settlement was reached around 2005.

Lead actor Gerard Christopher personally sold self-produced VHS tapes and later a complete season two DVD set made from his own master tapes before Warner Bros.' official releases began.

The show's cancellation was forced when Warner Bros. decided to cancel the Salkinds' Superman licenses at the end of the 1991-92 season to make way for the new series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, requiring the writers to rewrite the finale 'Obituary for a Superhero' as a definitive ending rather than a cliffhanger leading into planned TV movies.