It was created by Garry Marshall and Thomas L. Miller and produced by Alan Rafkin for Paramount Television.

Episodes revolve around Buttons' doings or undoings, such as extending the line Mike drew on a map (to mark their driving route) onward to a ghost town, and stealing an alarm clock which gets Mike arrested for public indecency (in his pajamas).

The series was created by Garry Marshall and Thomas L. Miller, both of whom are better known for their later work on Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley.

Bessell originally refused to participate when the title was first given as the "grammatically incorrect" (sic) "The Chimp and I".

[3] The chimpanzee who portrayed Buttons was owned by veteran animal expert Lou Schumacher and was trained by Bob Rydell who was responsible for teaching the chimpanzee to perform its "acting" tasks on cue by responding to various hand and voice signals.