The pilot was partially filmed in the California statehouse. The first day of shooting was November 22, 1963. Richard Crenna remembered being told in the middle of filming that President John F. Kennedy had just been murdered in Dallas.
Show creator James E. Moser spent nine months in Sacramento researching the show. He repeatedly interviewed California Assembly leader Jesse Unruh, who helped to inspire the Slattery character.
During the first season, the title of all of the episodes began with the word "Question," followed by a colon and what could have been a proposition placed before the Legislature (as in the pilot episode, "Question: What is Truth?") This naming convention was dropped for the 10 episodes of the second season that were broadcast before the series was cancelled.