The first episode premiered on Amazon.com's Prime subscription streaming service on August 19, 2016. It was part of the first Comedy Pilot Season, an extension of the popular and ongoing "choose your own programming" experiment known as Pilot Season. The three half-hour comedies included I Love Dick (2016), The Tick (2016) and Pilot (2016). Subscribers vote on which of the three series will be picked up based on just the first episode/pilots.
Jean-Claude plays another character in the show named Filip. Jean-Claude came up with Filip's unique voice on set, but didn't tell the crew. When he revealed the voice during the first take, it was a hilarious surprise for the cast and crew.
The series filmed in Los Angeles, which doubled for Bulgaria, which in the film-within-a-film is doubling for the Mississippi River. The designers leaned heavily on Eastern Bloc architecture: blocky, harsh gray structures with the Cyrillic alphabet on the signage.
Film critic Chase Whale heavily campaigned on social media for "Jean-Claude Van Johnson" to get picked up as a series during its voting stage on Amazon.
Moises Arias is one of the youngest cast members in the show at 23 years old.