The series was conceived by Tim Balme, who serves as showrunner, head writer and producer of The Brokenwood Mysteries.

Although set in a fictitious North Island town, the series is filmed in the greater Auckland region, with the real-life town of Warkworth doubling as Brokenwood.

The Brokenwood Police Station seen in the series is actually a 1911 building that was formerly the Helensville Post Office.

Actor Nic Sampson, who played Detective Constable Sam Breen, left the show to move back to the United Kingdom, prompting his character to be written out and replaced by Detective Constable Daniel Chalmers, played by Jarod Rawiri, introduced in series 7 episode 2.

Season two of the show, which climaxed with the death of a country singer character, was scored by Canadian-born Kiwi-based musician Tami Neilson and her brother Jay Neilson, while Joel Haines composed the music for all other seasons.

The show frequently features real New Zealand musicians such as Tami Neilson, Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding and Mel Parsons, and three volumes of soundtracks from the series have been released digitally on platforms like Apple Music, Amazon and Spotify.

Detective Shepherd drives a 1971 Holden Kingswood (HG series) fitted with a cassette player for his country music tapes; in Season 12, Episode 5, he considers selling the car due to its tendency to break down.

The series has received multiple New York Festival International Television and Film Awards medals (bronze in 2014 and 2023, silver in 2018) and an Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination in 2022 for a Season 7 episode, alongside a SWANZ Best Script Award for Tim Balme's episode 'Sour Grapes' in 2015.