The show was conceived after Stanley Tong, director of Police Story 3: Super Cop, suggested to creator Carlton Cuse a cop show based on that film, as CBS needed a series to attract young male viewers to its Saturday-night schedule.

Tong initially approached Jackie Chan, star of Police Story 3, to headline the series, but Chan declined the role.

Chan was originally set to make a brief background cameo in episode five, 'Cop Out,' but the cameo was cut from the final version of the episode.

Stanley Tong then approached his friend and frequent co-star of Chan, Sammo Hung, who agreed to take the lead role, and CBS quickly greenlit the series.

Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon Lee had a guest role as Vanessa Feng in episode eight, 'Take Out.'

Sammo Hung was accustomed to having full creative control over filming as he had in Hong Kong, and struggled with the early morning and late night shooting schedules typical of American television production.

Hung was not fluent in English during filming, which led him to worry about audience comprehension; as a result, in many scenes he speaks very little, making Martial Law one of the few American series to feature minimal dialogue from its lead character.

New executive producers Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin took over for season two due to spiraling production costs and largely disregarded season one's storylines, keeping only the basic 'fish-out-of-water detective' concept while dropping cast members Louis Mandylor and Tom Wright.

CBS offered Sammo Hung a third season, but he refused unless he had final say on scripts, complaining that season two's screenwriter reduced his character to merely a 'fighting machine'; a Black Belt magazine article also cited the show's $2 million per-episode production cost as a reason for cancellation.

The series crossed over with Walker, Texas Ranger in a two-part episode, 'Honor Among Strangers,' in which Sammo Law teamed up with Chuck Norris's character Cordell Walker, continuing into a Walker, Texas Ranger episode titled 'The Day of Cleansing.'