Show creator Barbara Hall wrote a list of guidelines for the writers, which she called "The Ten Commandments of Joan of Arcadia". These "commandments" are:
- 1. God cannot directly intervene.
- 2. Good and evil exist.
- 3. God can never identify one religion as being right.
- 4. The job of every human being is to fulfill his or her true nature.
- 5. Everyone is allowed to say "no" to God, including Joan.
- 6. God is not bound by time. This is a human concept.
- 7. God is not a person and does not possess a human personality.
- 8. God talks to everyone all the time in different ways.
- 9. God's plan is what is good for us, not what is good for him.
- 10. God's purpose for talking to Joan, and everyone, is to get her (us) to recognize the interconnectedness of all things - i.e., you cannot hurt a person without hurting yourself; all of your actions have consequences; God can be found in the smallest actions; God expects us to learn and grow from all our experiences. However, the exact nature of God is a mystery, and the mystery can never be solved.
The character 'Will Girardi' was ranked #40 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (20 June 2004 issue).
The casting of Jason Ritter as Kevin drew some minor controversy. Barbara Hall defended the choice, saying that although Ritter would be spending most of the time in a wheelchair, she wanted an able-bodied actor for the role as a means of incorporating flashbacks to before Kevin's injury.
The double windows at the top of the school staircase set, which are often visible in scenes taking place in the school's hallways, are double semi-circles on top and squared on the bottom - the traditional shape of the ten commandments.
Friedman's first name is never revealed.