Jane the Virgin is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen, created by Perla Farías, and the show was developed by Jennie Snyder Urman.

Executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman stated that Gina Rodriguez 'was literally the third person that came in' during the casting process for the lead role.

Filming for the first season began on July 28, 2014, with the pilot shot in Huntington Beach, California, while the rest of the series was filmed on soundstages in Los Angeles.

Beginning with the fourth episode of season three, the on-screen title card was altered so that 'The Virgin' was crossed out and replaced with a comedic substitution each episode, mirroring the storyline in which Jane is no longer a virgin.

Jane the Virgin is the only CW program to feature a Spanish-language audio track on a second audio program (SAP) channel, though many CW affiliate stations do not carry this channel.

The first season of Jane the Virgin received a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 56 reviews and a score of 80/100 on Metacritic, while the second season also earned a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and 87/100 on Metacritic.

Gina Rodriguez won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, and the show received a Peabody Award in 2014 and was named one of the American Film Institute's top 10 television programs of the year.

A planned spin-off titled Jane the Novela, conceived by writer Valentina L. Garza as a telenovela-inspired anthology series narrated by Gina Rodriguez, was ordered to pilot in January 2019 but was ultimately not moved forward by The CW in May 2019.