The show was originally pitched to the network with the tagline 'hip parents, square kids,' and Elyse and Steven were initially intended to be the main characters.

During the taping of the fourth episode, the audience reacted so positively to Alex that the show's focus shifted to him instead of the parents.

Creator Gary David Goldberg based the show's concept on his own life, observing how his generation of ex-radicals had raised children who were more conservative and comfortable with money and mainstream success.

Michael J. Fox got the role of Alex P. Keaton only after Matthew Broderick turned it down.

Laura Dern was considered for the role of Mallory Keaton.

Ed O'Neill auditioned for the role of Steven Keaton but later turned it down, feeling he wasn't right for the part.

Michael J. Fox met actress Tracy Pollan, who played his girlfriend Ellen Reed, on the show, and the two later married in 1988.

Andy Keaton's birth in the storyline coincided with actress Meredith Baxter's real-life pregnancy, and the character quickly aged about four years between seasons 4 and 5, when Brian Bonsall took over the role from twins Garrett and Tyler Merriman.

Main stars Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross share the exact same birthday, June 21, 1947, even though their characters were meant to be about five or six years older than them, since Michael J. Fox, who played their son, was only fourteen years younger than them in real life.

The show had several parallels to Meredith Baxter's earlier series Family, including similar titles, a similar family structure with a tomboy youngest child, and the later addition of another child; Baxter played the eldest child in Family and the mother in Family Ties.

The theme song 'Without Us' was performed by Dennis Tufano and Mindy Sterling for the first ten episodes before producers, dissatisfied with their version, replaced them with original recording artists Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams from episode eleven onward.

The 1981 Billy Vera song 'At This Moment' was featured in several episodes as Alex and Ellen's love theme, and since only a live recording existed, Vera's band re-recorded short studio segments specifically to fit the show's needs.

The song 'At This Moment' had never charted before its use on Family Ties, but the exposure caused such a flood of calls and letters to NBC asking about it that it later hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in January 1987.

In the final episodes of Spin City, Michael Gross played a therapist for Michael J. Fox's character, and the show included a reference to a conservative junior senator named 'Alex P. Keaton,' while Meredith Baxter appeared as Fox's character's mother in a separate two-part episode.

The 2021 Disney+ series WandaVision paid homage to Family Ties in its fifth episode with a title sequence parodying the show's opening, which depicted the family first as a pencil sketch before becoming a painted portrait.

Michael J. Fox won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Alex P. Keaton, in 1986, 1987, and 1988.