The series was created by Minhaj and Prashanth Venkataramanujam, both of whom also executive produce alongside Jim Margolis, Michelle Caputo, Shannon Hartman, Jennie Church-Cooper, and Steve Bodow.

[3] Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj aims to "explore the modern cultural and political landscape with depth and sincerity.

[6] When writing episodes about the show Minhaj frequently excluded or limited the role that researchers played in developing content and could be dismissive of fact checkers.

[15] On January 1, 2019, it was reported that the episode "Saudi Arabia" had been removed from Netflix's service in Saudi Arabia after the country's Communications and Information Technology Commission issued a request to the company to take it down over concerns regarding its content, which included criticism of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.

The March 2019 episode "Indian Elections" covered the 2019 Indian general election, criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP government, interviewed Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, and tackled issues such as Hindu nationalism, the Kashmir conflict, and mob lynchings against Muslim and Dalit minorities.

[20] The episode drew controversy in the Philippines among supporters and opponents of Duterte, leading to a response from the Malacañang Palace attacking the show.

"[22] After the show's cancellation, several producers including Nur Nasreen Ibrahim, Sheila V. Kumar, and Amy Zhang claimed to have experienced abuse, mistreatment, and harassment while in the workplace.