Sailor Moon Crystal was produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original Sailor Moon series, and was first announced on July 6, 2012 at a Niconi event, initially planned for a 2013 worldwide release.

Rather than remaking the 1990s anime, Toei Animation designed Crystal as a reboot that adapts Naoko Takeuchi's original manga from scratch, following the source material much more closely than the original series.

The project was delayed twice: first from a planned summer 2013 release to a winter web streaming debut, then again to July 2014, before finally premiering online in July 2014.

Kotono Mitsuishi is the only cast member to reprise her role from the 1990s anime, voicing Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon, while the rest of the voice cast was entirely replaced for Crystal.

For the English dub, Viz Media announced at the 2014 Anime Expo that the same cast used for their Sailor Moon re-dub of the original series would also voice Crystal.

Season 3 director Chiaki Kon had no prior knowledge of the manga and had only watched the 1990s anime as a child, so she read the manga for the first time while directing the season; series supervisor Fumio Osano praised her ability to fill in narrative gaps between the manga's panels for the animation.

Crystal was the first Sailor Moon screen adaptation produced with an entirely digital animation workflow, though Chibi Moon's transformation was hand-drawn starting in Season 2, and from Season 3 onward the transformation sequences reverted to traditional hand-drawn animation like the original 1990s series.

Character designer Yukie Sakō based her Seasons 1-2 designs on the cover artwork of the manga's complete edition volumes, aiming for a balance between Naoko Takeuchi's modern illustration style and contemporary anime aesthetics.

The first episode drew over one million viewers on Niconico within its first two days of streaming, but the first two seasons were criticized by outlets like The Mary Sue and Anime News Network for fast pacing and inconsistent animation quality, while Season 3 was praised for improved animation and characterization.

A crossover event titled 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal × Yomiuri Giants' was held during a three-game series between the Giants and Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo Dome from May 6-8, 2016.