Taraji P. Henson said that she would only do the show under the condition that Terrence Howard played the lead male role.
During its first season, viewership in the United States increased with every episode - a rarity in television where most shows lose viewers after the pilot episode. The pilot attracted 9.9 million people, culminating with an audience of 17.6 million for the season finale. Since modern Nielsen tracking began in 1991, the record for the most consecutive weeks of increased viewership for a new show was held by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1999) with five episodes, a record Empire broke with twelve episodes.
Grace Gealey (Anika) and Trai Byers (Andre) are married in real life.
The character of Elle Dallas is based on Whitney Houston, though Lee Daniels created the part for Courtney Love, of whom he was a great admirer. When Daniels contacted Love about playing the recurring character, she thought it was a joke.