David Jason was a relatively late choice for Del Boy; Jim Broadbent and Enn Reitel were earlier preferences, but Broadbent turned down the role because he was appearing in a West End transfer of Mike Leigh's play Goose-Pimples. Jason only got the part after producer Ray Butt saw a repeat of Open All Hours.

For the role of Grandad, John Sullivan initially envisioned an actor similar to Wilfrid Brambell (of Steptoe and Son) but avoided casting Brambell himself due to his strong association with that earlier role; Lennard Pearce was cast almost immediately after his audition.

Lennard Pearce suffered a fatal heart attack during filming of series four in December 1984, dying the day before he was due back on set; Sullivan wrote the episode 'Strained Relations' to write Grandad's death into the show, and scenes from 'Hole in One' featuring Pearce were re-filmed with his replacement, Buster Merryfield.

Buster Merryfield, who played Uncle Albert, was an inexperienced amateur actor but was cast largely because his distinctive white 'Captain Birdseye' beard fit the image of an old sailor.

Roger Lloyd-Pack was cast as Trigger by chance: producer Ray Butt attended a stage play only to scout actor Billy Murray as a potential Del Boy, and ended up hiring Lloyd-Pack instead after seeing him in that same production.

John Sullivan originally gave the show the working title 'Readies' before settling on 'Only Fools and Horses', a phrase derived from the obscure 19th-century American vaudeville saying 'only fools and horses work for a living', which he had previously used as an episode title in his earlier sitcom Citizen Smith.

Midway through filming series five, David Jason told John Sullivan he wanted to leave the show, prompting Sullivan to write 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' as an intended series finale where Del Boy would move to Australia; Jason changed his mind, so the ending was rewritten to have Del Boy reject the offer.

Both the opening theme 'Only Fools and Horses' and the closing theme 'Hooky Street' are performed by writer John Sullivan himself, not by cast member Nicholas Lyndhurst as is sometimes believed; Sullivan had originally wanted Chas & Dave to sing it but was persuaded by producer Ray Butt to perform it himself.

The opening title sequence, showing the actors' images peeling on and off screen, was shot manually frame by frame and took around six weeks to complete.

The 1996 episode 'Time on Our Hands', originally billed as the series finale, holds the record for the biggest UK television audience for a sitcom episode, with 24.3 million viewers.

The 1991 Christmas special 'Miami Twice' featured cameo appearances by Richard Branson and Barry Gibb, while other episodes included real-life cameos from Mike Read hosting Top of the Pops and Jonathan Ross appearing as himself.