Mixed-ish is a prequel spin-off of Black-ish, focusing on Rainbow Johnson's childhood, and is the second series spun off from the parent show after Freeform's Grown-ish.

The show is loosely based on the early life of Dr. Rania Barris, the ex-wife of co-creator Kenya Barris.

The pilot episode originated as a Black-ish episode titled 'Becoming Bow,' which was set to air on May 7, 2019, but was shelved and instead repurposed as the pilot for Mixed-ish, with the parent show's cast appearing in a flash-forward cameo introduction.

Mixed-ish was the final series Kenya Barris helped create before signing his deal with Netflix in August 2018, after he had asked to exit his ABC Studios deal due to disagreements over the studio's handling of controversial Black-ish episodes and rejected pilots.

Anders Holm was originally cast as Bow's father, Paul Jackson, and filmed the role in the series' pilot episode, but left before ABC picked up the show.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar replaced Anders Holm as Paul Jackson on June 19, 2019, requiring the previously shot 'Becoming Bow' scenes to be reshot with Gosselaar.

In promotional material the family is referred to as 'the Johnsons,' matching Bow's married surname on Black-ish, even though her father and grandfather's surname is actually Jackson, implying Bow's maternal family kept using the Johnson name—a detail later addressed in the Black-ish episode 'Johnson & Johnson.'

The series' episode titles are named after songs, television shows, and movies from the 1980s.

Singer-songwriter Mariah Carey recorded and confirmed the show's theme song, 'In the Mix,' which she wrote and produced with Daniel Moore and which reached number nine on the Billboard U.S. R&B Digital Song Sales chart.

On Rotten Tomatoes, Mixed-ish holds a 76% approval rating based on 21 reviews with an average score of 7.10/10, while Metacritic gives it a weighted average of 70 out of 100 based on 9 critics.