The series is loosely based on the real-world friendship between illusionist Harry Houdini and writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, imagining them investigating mysterious deaths together in 1901 London.

The pilot episode was written by co-creators David Hoselton and David Titcher, and the show was ordered as a 10-episode first season simultaneously by Fox in the US, ITV in the UK, and Global in Canada.

The series was a treaty co-production between Big Talk Productions (UK) and Shaftesbury Films (Canada), in association with Sony Pictures Television in the US, where executive producer David Shore's company Shore Z Productions is based.

Filming took place in two stages at The Space Project studio in Manchester, with Liverpool Town Hall and Water Street used for exterior location filming.

The character of Sherlock Holmes was played by two different actors in the series, Ewen Bremner and Mark Caven.

The recurring cast included real historical figures portrayed as characters, such as Thomas Edison (played by Peter Outerbridge) and Bram Stoker (played by Paul Ritter).

Despite being broadcast in multiple countries starting in March 2016, Fox cancelled the series after just one season on August 3, 2016.