The premise of this series is partly based on the true story that broke in 2010 of a cell of Russian Sleeper agents who had been "hiding in plain sight" in the United States for decades (also known as the "Spy Swap of 2010"). Several of them had children, coworkers, friends, and neighbors who all had no idea that they were spies. These agents were ultimately returned to Russia in a trade for some Americans that Russia was holding.
Joseph Weisberg created the show. Weisberg worked in the Central Intelligence Agency's directorate of operations from 1990 to 1994. As a former agent, any script written by Weisberg must go in front of the CIA Publications Review Board.
In real life, Annet Mahendru speaks six languages (German, English, Russian, French, Persian, and Hindi) due to a nomadic upbringing all across the globe. She joked that she was hired because the producers thought she was an actual spy.
The actors who play married couple Elizabeth and Philip Jennings on this show, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys respectively, also started dating in their real lives (in 2014). In January 2016, Us Weekly reported that Russell was four months pregnant with their first child together, and that summer, Russell gave birth to a son, Sam.
The inspiration for the Americans was the case of Tim and Alex Vavilov, whose parents, Andrei Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova, acted as Russian sleeper agents in the United States.