The series was developed by John Carney, who directed, wrote, and produced it, based on the long-running weekly 'Modern Love' column published by The New York Times.

The show got a straight-to-series order from Amazon on June 11, 2018 for a first season of eight episodes, with Storied Media Group and The New York Times as production companies.

Beyond John Carney, additional episodes were directed by Emmy Rossum, Sharon Horgan, and Tom Hall; Horgan and Hall also wrote the episodes they directed, while Rossum directed an episode written by Audrey Wells.

Musician Ed Sheeran appeared in an acting role as Mick in the season 1 episode featuring Andrew Scott and Olivia Cooke.

Principal photography on the first season began by September 18, 2018 in New York City.

The second season expanded filming beyond New York City to the upstate cities of Schenectady, Albany, and Troy, as well as to Enniskerry and Stoneybatter in Dublin, Ireland.

The show's success spawned several international adaptations, including three Indian versions in different languages (Modern Love Mumbai in Hindi, Modern Love Hyderabad in Telugu, and Modern Love Chennai in Tamil), a Japanese version called Modern Love Tokyo, and a Dutch version called Modern Love Amsterdam.

The first season was notably better received than the second, holding a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to 58% for season two, with critics noting the second season leaned more on romantic clichés.