McMafia is inspired by Misha Glenny's 2008 non-fiction book 'McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld', which documents various mafia organisations thriving around the world, and the series adapted a few stories from it.

The series was created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, who also directed all eight episodes, and was co-produced by the BBC, AMC Networks, and Cuba Pictures in association with Twickenham Studios.

James Norton was cast in the lead role of Alex Godman in April 2016, while Maria Shukshina, Aleksey Serebryakov, and David Strathairn joined the cast as announced in November 2016.

Filming took place across a wide range of international locations including London, Zagreb, Split, Opatija, Primošten, Qatar, Mumbai, Prague, Cairo, Belgrade, Belize, Istanbul, Moscow, and Tel Aviv.

The show had a substantial budget of several million pounds per episode.

McMafia holds a 71% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10, and The Guardian's Lucy Mangan called it 'beautifully put together' with a script 'a cut above average'.

Despite BBC One recommissioning an eight-part second series in 2018, and coming close to filming it twice, the second series was ultimately cancelled, which executive producer Misha Glenny confirmed 'with great sadness' on 25 April 2025 after previously denying reports of cancellation in 2022.