The title of the series is taken from Chapter 22 of "Howard's End" by E. M. Forster: "Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted."
Victoria Coren Mitchell is credited with the pseudonym 'Geri Wiley' when submitting questions to the show, alongside her other credits under her real name as presenter, script associate and executive producer. The name Geri Wiley is a homage to British actor and comedian Ronnie Barker, who used the name 'Gerald Wiley' when submitting scripts and sketches for inclusion in his long-running comedy show The Two Ronnies (1971).
In 2014, after almost six years on digital channel BBC Four, the series was moved to BBC Two.
Originally the clues were represented by Greek letters. Some viewers wrote in claiming they found this pretentious, so the producers replaced the letters with Egyptian hieroglyphs.