The weekly series is a continuation of the V franchise originally conceived by Kenneth Johnson, but Johnson himself was not involved in producing the follow-up series.

Sean Donovan was the only recurring character recast during the series' run, with Nicky Katt replacing Eric Johnston in the role.

Michael Ironside, who played Ham Tyler, left the show partway through its run without a clearly stated reason, and his character was written out.

After cancellation in March 1985, producers kept the sets in storage while discussing possible follow-ups, including a trip to the Visitor homeworld to stop Diana from assassinating the Leader, or a story exploring the aftermath of a peace treaty.

In 1989, J. Michael Straczynski pitched a sequel series called 'V: The Next Chapter,' set five years later in Chicago with only Ham Tyler returning; Warner Brothers ultimately passed on the project.

The shot of the alien fleet hiding behind the Moon in the episode 'Liberation Day' was achieved with physical models—a 30-inch saucer, smaller newly built ships, and a 36-inch model of the Moon's surface—because the budget didn't allow for optical compositing.

The series had only about half the budget and resources per hour that had been available for the miniseries V: The Final Battle, according to Executive Story Consultant David Ambromowitz, forcing cuts to special effects, sets, and characters.

The weekly series frequently reused action footage from the original miniseries, most notably in the pilot's Visitor skyfighter chase scene, where nearly all external shots were lifted from the miniseries' climax; at one point stock footage from the previous week's episode was even reused.

In the miniseries, the Visitors' voices had a pitch-shift effect applied, but this was dropped in the weekly series without any in-story explanation for why they suddenly sounded human.

The show's ratings declined over its run, from 36th place for its premiere week to 53rd place by episode 13, finishing the season ranked 57th out of 77 shows.