Steven Spielberg was to be the executive producer, but declined after receiving a letter from Anne Frank's relatives asking him not be involved with the project because it was not based on the authorized account of Frank's life.
All four female leads, Anne (Hannah Taylor Gordon), her sister Margot (Jessica Manley), her mother (Tatjana Blacher) and Auguste Van Pels (Brenda Blethyn) agreed to lose their hair for the scenes in the concentration camp. It was a requirement of being cast in the role that Taylor Gordon and Manley have their actual hair cut off on camera. It was an act of solidarity with the young girls that Blacher and Blethyn decided to do the same. They came up with the idea the day before the scene was to be filmed. The still photographer did a set of before and after pictures as mementos for the women.
In preparation for one of the dream sequences, Hannah Taylor Gordon (Anne Frank) took ice skating lessons, though she did have a stunt double for the more challenging skating moves.
This mini-series was not sanctioned by Buddy Elias, Anne Frank's cousin and chairman of the Anne Frank Fonds (which owns the copyright of Anne's Diary), as a result, this mini-series could not directly quote "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl".
Scenes were set up so photographs could be taken on the set, such as the Franks' wedding and Anne at a desk.