In an interview in Starlog 124 (published November 1987), Courteney Cox revealed that she was auditioning for a part on Code Name: Foxfire (1985) at Universal Studios when she found out they were casting Misfits of Science across the hall and decided to try out for that as well.
The group drive around in a "Fundae Sundae" ice cream truck because they needed it to haul "The Ice Man" in the pilot episode. The character was dropped, but they kept the truck.
The name "Misfits of Science" and other conceptual ideas were the brainchild of then-president of NBC Entertainment, Brandon Tartikoff. He said of the show "We'll rely on the National Enquirer for story ideas. It's loosely inspired by the dynamics we saw in Ghostbusters... sort of a kick-back, Friday type of show."
The pilot episode featured a character called "ice man" but he was dropped from future appearances after objections from Marvel as they had a similar character of the same name.
Episode 9 was the first paid writing job for Tim Kring, who later originated and produced the thematically similar Heroes in 2006.