Special Unit 2 aired on UPN for two seasons between April 2001 and February 2002, and was cancelled after nineteen episodes due to a change in UPN's management.

Although the series is set within a top-secret Chicago police division, it was actually filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In the show's mythology, the monstrous 'Links' represent a missing evolutionary link between apes and humans, with gargoyles explained as humanoid descendants of dinosaurs, while vampires are explicitly said not to exist.

The unit's secret headquarters is hidden behind the facade of an ordinary Chinese laundry to maintain its cover.

The gnome character Carl, the unit's liaison to the Link community, is depicted as invincible to everything except a diamond-coated saw or dragon fire and teeth.

Captain Richard Page, the unit's commanding officer, has a prosthetic metal hand that serves as a recurring running gag throughout the series.

The show's technical expert role changed between seasons, with acerbic Link biologist Sean Radmon (Sean Whalen) in Season 1 being succeeded by the enthusiastic technician Jonathan (Jonathan Togo) in Season 2.

Pauley Perrette joined the cast in Season 2 as Alice Cramer, the unit's public relations specialist tasked with convincing the press that Link-related incidents were mundane phenomena like toxic spills or mass hallucinations.

Visual Entertainment acquired the rights to the series in September 2017 and released Special Unit 2: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on October 6, 2017.