Development for a live-action film or TV series began in 1997, when the first book came out. Dav Pilkey wanted Chris Farley to play Captain Underpants. The project was shelved when Farley died.
'Weird Al' Yankovic, who sings the theme song, is mentioned in several of the source novels, including the first one.
Released on the year of the book series' 20th anniversary.
The film is centered around "Jerome Horwitz Elementary." Jerome Horwitz is the birth name of Curly Howard, of The Three Stooges.
The shot of the school children marching sadly into school in the rain is an homage to the shot in Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) of workers marching slowly in the rain into a factory. That scene in turn references a scene in Metropolis (1927), in which workers march like automatons into the factory.