M. Night Shyamalan originally envisioned the series stretching to 60 half-hour episodes across six seasons, but it was ultimately planned and produced as four seasons totaling 40 episodes.

The first season was filmed in Philadelphia, with exterior shots near Spruce and 21st Streets in Center City, while the Turner home's interior was built as a set inside a former paint factory in Bethel Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Unlike most productions, Servant was filmed chronologically, with cast members receiving scripts as they shot each episode, keeping them in the dark about the mystery just like the viewers, according to Rupert Grint.

Production on season two was shut down in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed in September 2020 to finish the four remaining episodes.

Apple reportedly asked M. Night Shyamalan not to display crucifixes on the walls during filming.

Italian chef Marc Vetri served as a food consultant for the cooking scenes in season one, while Philadelphia chef Drew DiTomo consulted on season two, spending many days teaching the cast to make pizzas for the fictional delivery company Cheezus Crust.

To promote the season two finale, Apple partnered with two Los Angeles pizza restaurants to give away free pizza, tying in with Cheezus Crust, the fictional pizza business Dorothy and Sean create in the show.

In January 2020, filmmaker Francesca Gregorini sued the show's producers for copyright infringement, claiming Servant plagiarized her 2013 film The Truth About Emanuel, which also features a woman using a lifelike doll to cope with infant loss and hiring a nanny; after years of appeals, a jury ruled in favor of the Servant defendants in January 2025, finding they had no access to Gregorini's film before the series was created.

Author Stephen King publicly praised the series multiple times, calling it 'spooky as hell' and 'extremely creepy and totally involving,' while filmmaker Guillermo del Toro compared it to a European slow burn and singled out Rupert Grint's performance and the camera work in Shyamalan-directed episodes.