[1] Craig Robinson hosted the show, with Ken Jeong, Paula Abdul, Brian Austin Green, and Ashley Tisdale serving as panelists.

Segments featured disguised celebrities Sean Hayes, Howie Mandel, Colton Underwood, and Derek Hough.

Masked Singer panelists Ken Jeong and Nicole Scherzinger participated in later segments, as did the show's host, Nick Cannon.

The day after the first segment aired, Rob Wade, head of alternative entertainment and specials at Fox, contacted The Ellen DeGeneres Show producers about a possible television series.

[15] The Masked Dancer was announced in January 2020 as a "straight-to-series" addition at Fox's winter Television Critics Association press tour.

Though it was scheduled between two seasons of The Masked Singer, the network was unconcerned about audience burnout as episodes were shorter and less frequent than other reality competition series.