According to consultant and palaeontologist Steve Brusatte, the series had reportedly been in development for about a decade prior to the release of its first trailer.

The series was first reported by Deadline on May 8, 2019, revealing that Apple had ordered the documentary series from BBC Studios with Jon Favreau as executive producer.

Palaeozoologist Darren Naish served as the lead consultant for the depictions of prehistoric life, while other consultants were only revealed after the show's release, including Steve Brusatte, Alexander Farnsworth, Michael Habib and Mark Witton, among others.

David Krentz, who directed Dinosaur Revolution (2011) and worked as a character designer on Disney's Dinosaur (2000), was also revealed to have contributed to the creature development and design.

The show depicts feathered dinosaurs, such as juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, using up-to-date palaeontological research for scientific rigour.

Storyboarding, concept art and creature designs were created by Jellyfish Pictures, while the photorealistic computer-generated imagery was developed by The Moving Picture Company, the same studio behind The Jungle Book (2016) and The Lion King (2019).

The original score for the first two seasons was composed by Hans Zimmer, Kara Talve and Anže Rozman.

The third season, Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, marks a shift in format: it is narrated by Tom Hiddleston instead of David Attenborough, focuses on Pleistocene megafauna rather than dinosaurs, and uses CGI by Framestore instead of The Moving Picture Company.

The franchise expanded into virtual reality with Apple Vision Pro launch titles in 2024, including the subscription-based short film Pterosaur Beach and the free mixed reality app Encounter Dinosaurs, followed by Triceratops Forest.

Starting in 2025, specialty theatres and immersive galleries have hosted Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs, a 360-degree video show assembled from clips of the first two seasons combined with full-scale graphics.