Danny Antonucci, an adult cartoonist known for edgy works like Lupo the Butcher and The Brothers Grunt, created Ed, Edd n Eddy after being dared to try producing a children's animated series.

While designing a commercial, Antonucci drew three characters he liked so much that he named them Ed, Edd, and Eddy and spent months developing a show around them, faxing a one-page concept sheet to Nickelodeon in 1996.

Nickelodeon declined to give Antonucci creative control over the series, so he took the pitch to Cartoon Network instead, which agreed to let him retain creative control.

Ed, Edd n Eddy was the first Cartoon Network original series produced by an outside studio (Antonucci's a.k.a. Cartoon) rather than Hanna-Barbera, and it also skipped the usual seven-minute short pilot process, entering production directly.

Antonucci based the Eds' personalities partly on himself and his two sons, while Rolf was inspired by Antonucci and his cousins from his first-generation Italian immigrant family, and Jimmy was based on a feminine cousin who preferred playing with girls.

The character Jonny and his imaginary wooden friend Plank were inspired by a childhood friend of Antonucci's who was a loner and carried a blanket everywhere; Antonucci insisted Plank remain simply a piece of wood animated only by Jonny's imagination, resisting suggestions to give it a face or voice.

The series used a hand-drawn 'boiling line' animation technique, created by tracing a drawing three times onto separate sheets of paper, giving the outlines a shimmering, spontaneous look reminiscent of 1930s cartoons; the show was the last major animated series to use traditional cel animation before switching to digital ink and paint in 2004.

The idea for the characters' multicoloured tongues came to Antonucci after he noticed his son and friends had differently coloured tongues from eating various candies while he was storyboarding.

The show's whistled theme song was inspired by the Bob Crosby and The Bob Cats tune 'Big Noise from Winnetka,' and Antonucci performed the whistling himself for the track composed by Patric Caird.

Ed, Edd n Eddy attracted an audience of 31 million households across 120 countries and became the longest-running singular Cartoon Network original series, a title it held for over a decade until being surpassed by Teen Titans Go! in 2024.

Animation cels were shipped to Yeson Animation Studios in South Korea for initial production before being edited back at Antonucci's a.k.a. Cartoon studio.

American rapper JID titled a single on his debut album 'EdEddnEddy,' comparing his and his friends' antics to the Eds' scams, and released a music video replicating the show's signature art style.