When co-creators Gregory Jacobs and Joe Gangemi were first pitching the show they described its tone as "Caddyshack meets The Graduate."
Red Oaks is filmed at the Edgewood Country Club in River Vale, New Jersey. The street on the other side of the main road that it's located on is named Red Oak Drive.
In episode 7 "The Anniversary" Wheeler and Misty go to the movies to see Aliens. This is a nod to Paul Reiser (Mr. Getty) who played Burke in the movie, Aliens.
Gregory Jacobs noted, going from 10 to 6 episodes for the series-concluding season,"Enabled us to think of it more like a movie, rather than a bunch of episodic chapters."
Co-creators Gregory Jacobs and Joe Gangemi concede there are several parallels between reality and the show. Both of their fathers suffered heart attacks in their 50s, as Sam does in the show's pilot episode; Jacobs worked his way up as a P.A. at a production company and found romance along the way, as does David. Plus, "we both had Wheelers in our lives and dated Karens," Jacobs says, referring to David's Season 1 girlfriend. "But we quickly diverged from autobiography," Gangemi says, "because we realized our real lives haven't been nearly as interesting or funny."