UnREAL was inspired by co-creator Sarah Gertrude Shapiro's award-winning independent short film Sequin Raze, drawing on her own prior experience working behind the scenes on the real-life reality dating series The Bachelor.

Lifetime placed a pilot order in July 2013, and after the pilot was written by Marti Noxon and Shapiro and directed by Peter O'Fallon, the network officially greenlit the show with a 10-episode series order in February 2014.

The role of Quinn King was originally cast with Megyn Price in November 2013, but she was replaced by Constance Zimmer in June 2014 before the series premiered.

The show's fourth and final season completed production in January 2018, before its third season had even finished airing.

The fourth season was first distributed exclusively by Hulu as a 'Hulu Original' starting July 16, 2018, ahead of its later broadcast on Lifetime, after Hulu acquired the season in May 2018.

In January 2016, Lifetime developed a spin-off web series called The Faith Diaries, centered on the contestant Faith and starring Breeda Wool reprising her role; it premiered as a 10-episode webisode series on April 13, 2016.

Season one earned a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 41 reviews and a Metacritic score of 78, and was named one of Entertainment Weekly's '10 Best New Shows of 2015' by critic Jeff Jensen.

Season two was even more acclaimed, achieving a Metacritic score of 87 (indicating 'universal acclaim') and an 83% Rotten Tomatoes rating from 38 reviews.