Sarah Paulson's reporter walk-through scene in "Asylum" was pulled directly from actual footage of Bill Baldini's exposé piece on Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pennsylvania. Baldini's work led to the closure of Pennhurst and the release of all of its patients. Pennhurst is now the location of a seasonal haunted house and has been featured on numerous shows, due to the reported extreme paranormal activity in Pennhurst's buildings.
On September 2, 2014, creator Ryan Murphy announced that all of the seasons are connected to each other in some way.
When Cody Fern joined the cast of Apocalypse he was told that he would be playing the hero to Sarah Paulson's villain, just a couple days before filming of the season began did he learn that he was actually playing its villain Michael and that Paulson was playing the hero.
For her directorial debut, Sarah Paulson was scheduled to direct the 8th episode of season 8, but Ryan Murphy decided to offer her instead the 6th because it was a really special episode with the return of Jessica Lange and to the story of the first season.
Co-creator Ryan Murphy repeatedly tried to book Reese Witherspoon in guest spots, but she was always unavailable. He also pursued Michelle Pfeiffer.