The Undoing is based on the 2014 novel You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz, adapted for television by David E. Kelley.

HBO gave the production a series order on March 12, 2018, with David E. Kelley writing and executive producing alongside Nicole Kidman, Per Saari, and Bruna Papandrea.

The series was originally set to premiere on May 10, 2020, but its release was delayed to October 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nicole Kidman was cast in the lead female role at the same time the series was first announced, while also serving as an executive producer.

Hugh Grant and Donald Sutherland were announced as cast members in November 2018, followed by Noah Jupe in January 2019 and several other cast members, including Fala Chen, Édgar Ramírez, Lily Rabe, Ismael Cruz Córdova and Matilda De Angelis, in March 2019.

Principal photography began on March 14, 2019, with filming taking place in New York City and Kingston, New York.

Planned filming on Shelter Island, New York, was canceled due to objections from residents, so the beach and beach house scenes were instead filmed on the North Fork of Long Island.

The Undoing was the first HBO original series to gain viewership every week throughout its season, and its finale was the network's most-watched night since the Season 2 finale of Big Little Lies.

The series became the biggest U.S. show to launch on Sky in the United Kingdom, surpassing the record previously held by Game of Thrones.

Critic Roxana Hadadi of Vulture compared the series unfavorably to David E. Kelley's earlier show Big Little Lies, arguing that protagonist Grace Fraser was a shallower version of Kidman's Big Little Lies character Celeste Wright.