Executive producer and creator Tim Kring was at first reluctant to cast Jill Hennessy as the impulsive, abrasive medical examiner Jordan Cavanaugh, knowing only her work as the straight-laced Assistant District Attorney Claire Kincaid on Law & Order (1990) and as Jacqueline Kennedy in Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot (2001). Agreeing to meet for breakfast, Kring was embarrassed to discover the restaurant he had chosen was closed when they arrived. Kring started to apologize, but Hennessy, unfazed, said, "Dude, who gives a shit? We'll go someplace else." Kring recalled thinking, "Oh, my God, this is Jordan."
The episodes "Prisoner Exchange" and "There's No Place Like Home" both feature songs performed by Rosemary Clooney, mother of the late Miguel Ferrer (Dr. Garret Macy).
The launch of the third season was delayed for about half a year to accommodate Jill Hennessy's real-life pregnancy.
Jill Hennessy is such a fan of the folk duo Indigo Girls that a poster of the act hangs in the kitchen set of her character.
The series featured many classical popular songs on its soundtrack. As such, songs have to be re-licensed for home video releases, this has caused delays in season boxed-set DVDs. The late Miguel Ferrer personally lobbied for the rights to songs sung by his mother, Rosemary Clooney.