Directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos met as graduate students in Columbia University's film program and learned about Steven Avery's case after reading a 2005 New York Times article about his exoneration and subsequent murder arrest.

Before Netflix picked up the project, Demos and Ricciardi pitched it to executives at PBS and HBO, but neither network showed interest.

The series was filmed over the course of 10 years, with the filmmakers traveling back and forth between New York City and Wisconsin during production.

Netflix originally commissioned an eight-episode first season but later expanded the order to 10 episodes.

To promote the series, Netflix released the first episode simultaneously on YouTube and on its own platform, something it had not done for any other original programming.

The show's graphics and main title sequence were created by the Santa Monica-based design studio Elastic.

A December 2015 petition to the White House asking for Steven Avery's pardon gathered more than 500,000 signatures, though the White House noted the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense.

In 2017, prosecutor Ken Kratz published a book titled 'Avery: The Case Against Steven Avery and What Making a Murderer Gets Wrong,' arguing the documentary omitted key evidence against Avery.