The Bold Type is inspired by the life and career of former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles, who also serves as an executive producer on the series.

The series was originally developed under the title Issues before Freeform ordered it to series in January 2017 and renamed it The Bold Type.

Joanna Coles provides a voice-over at the beginning of every episode recapping previous events in the series.

After the first season, showrunner and series creator Sarah Watson left due to 'creative differences' with the network, and Amanda Lasher took over as showrunner starting with season two; Wendy Straker Hauser later replaced Lasher for season four.

Melora Hardin's character Jacqueline, the editor-in-chief of Scarlet, was later revealed to be based on Joanna Coles herself.

Nikohl Boosheri and Stephen Conrad Moore were both promoted from recurring roles in season one to the main cast starting in season two.

The pilot episode was filmed in Toronto, Canada in 2016, and the rest of the series continued filming in Toronto and Montreal, with additional trips to New York City specifically to capture exterior shots of landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park.

Production on the fourth season was shut down in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as announced by actress Meghann Fahy, resulting in the episode order being cut from 18 to 16 episodes.