The PJs was produced by Imagine Television, The Murphy Company, and Will Vinton Studios for Touchstone Television during its first two seasons, making it Disney's first adult animated series.

Each episode took over two months to produce due to the laborious stop-motion animation process, and 43 episodes aired over the show's run of two years and four months.

Although Eddie Murphy is credited as the voice of Thurgood Stubbs in every episode, actor Phil Morris says he actually recorded Thurgood's lines in some episodes because Murphy sometimes did not want to show up to record, and Morris worked in a separate booth so producers could replace his recordings with Murphy's voice if Murphy later chose to record the dialogue himself.

The theme music for the show was produced by Quincy Jones' son QD3 along with George Clinton.

Thurgood Stubbs makes a background cameo in The Simpsons episode 'Missionary: Impossible' as a telethon volunteer alongside characters from other Fox shows, and also appears on a manhole cover in the Futurama episodes 'I Second That Emotion' and 'The Luck of the Fryish'; in response, The PJs episode 'Cliffhangin' with Mr. Super' featured Futurama's Philip J. Fry on a missing person poster on a milk carton.

The show moved from Fox to The WB for its third season in 2000, but its high budget and declining ratings led to its cancellation in 2001, leaving the final two episodes unaired until 2003.

The PJs won three Emmy Awards and one Annie Award during its run, and its first season holds a 50% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews.