Animation was provided by Cinesite's Montreal and London facilities, with pre-production and storyboard supervision at Disney's Burbank and Vancouver studios.

[15][16][17] In February 2021, the Kugali Media team said that the series is not like World of Wakanda, with Kugali Media CEO Ziki Nelson saying they "took a real African city" (Lagos, Nigeria) and found ways to adapt it using their imagination, with Hamid Ibrahim, the creative director, clarifying that Disney Animation let them "be ourselves and...be true to ourselves," working with Disney with "a certain amount of autonomy and creative freedom".

[19] At the 2021 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Olowofoyeku said that the story was inspired by the city of Lagos, Nigeria, due to Lagos being "the culture capital of Nigeria", and due to both its mainland and island areas having "a unique, distinct feel" that the creative team felt provided "an interesting base for the story".

[23][7] Hudson, a writer for Disney Animation, was later brought to work on the script in order to add humor and keep focus on the story and arcs.

He ultimately wanted Iwájú to be a story about challenging the status quo by exploring real-life issues through the eyes of an optimistic character, which is reflected by how Tola reacts to learning of Kole's sruggles and how life in mainland Lagos is.

[32] Ibrahim also said that the towers composing the mainland, which is the series' main setting, are meant to represent overcrowding, while the island area contains a bigger "space and room for creative expression".

[34] Iwájú explores themes of inequality and class divide, which director and Kugali co-founder Ziki Nelson described as "the everyday reality of life in Nigeria and other parts of the world".

[32] The series was described by Ibrahim as a "Kugali–Disney mash-up," a collaboration between both companies, to which Jennifer Lee, the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, agreed, while Olowofoyeku said the show had a "very unique set-up for storytelling already built into the DNA of the real-life Lagos".

[40] The documentary, titled Iwájú: A Day Ahead, was directed by Megan Harding with Amy Astley and Beth Hoppe executive producing, and released alongside the series on February 28, 2024.

[45] Tor.com described the series as Africanfuturist and said that by partnering with Disney, Kugali Media can "reach an ever broader audience, bringing their message around the globe".

[46] Jade King of TheGamer described the series as charming, gorgeous, and depicting a world "filled with depth" and called it "unflinchingly authentic in spite of its colourful presentation.

"[47] Alexander Onukwue of Semafor called the series a "very optimistic" look at Lagos in the future, with subtext for adults to ingest, generic Nigerian accents, and an "influential cast with a strong fanbase," but noted that Disney+ isn't available in Nigeria.

"[51] Kambole Campbell of Empire praised the cultural specificity, use of Yoruba-language phrases, strong voice cast, and exploration of income inequality, imagines abuse of today's technology, art direction, costume design, thoughtful, and called the series "pretty bold children’s television."

However, Campbell said the series doesn't have the "explosive inventiveness" of Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, the noticeable genetic elements, a subpar score, and stuttering narrative with pacing "shackled to the binge model" by favoring a long story rather than one-off episodes, and notes that early episodes are "a little slow," arguing the series feels like a "feature film that’s been unceremoniously divided into slices.

"[52] Charles Mudede of The Stranger said that the story does not have a Western structure, and has a happy ending, but one that is strange "by the standards of Disney animations," argued that Bole is not good at "being a villain," and described the series as realistic.