It has been compared to Big Brother and Catfish in format,[5] as well as Black Mirror episode "Nosedive" with the concept of ratings.

[10] In November 2023, Netflix officially announced that The Circle had been renewed for a sixth and seventh season, both of which had already been filmed.

[15][16] Tim Harcourt is the creative director of Studio Lambert, which produces the British and American versions of the show.

He began to work on The Circle after hearing that Channel 4 was looking for a reality-show format centered on social media.

[18][19] After the first season was Channel 4's "youngest profiling" show in six years, according to the British TV industry magazine Broadcast, talks began of international versions.

Brandon Reigg, Netflix's Vice Principal of Unscripted Content, stated, "We think the show's combination of modern social media interaction and competition will captivate Netflix members around the world, in multiple languages, and we're delighted to partner with Studio Lambert and Motion to produce these three new local versions.

This includes sharing their age, relationship status, a short bio, and one photo to use as their profile picture.

"[22][23] Seasons 1-5 of The Circle US were shot entirely in the same apartment building in Salford, England, as the other international versions except for the first series of the original UK show.

[25] Opposite the apartment building was the control room, which was previously part of the Salford University campus that became disused.

[25] At any time in the control room, there were between twenty and thirty producers and camera operators working, recording, and sending all the messages from The Circle.

[25] In 2019 and 2020 Sean Boyd and the You Are Home team made the contestants apartments available to book via Airbnb in between filming.