With a budget of only $300,000, the film went on to gross $47 million at the U.S. box office.

The events of the original script, titled The Babysitter Murders, took place over several days. The script was changed to have everything happen on the same day to reduce the number of locations and costume changes and keep the film under budget. It was decided that Halloween, the scariest night of the year, was the perfect night (and title) for the film.

John Carpenter approached Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to play the role of Dr. Sam Loomis, but both turned him down due to the low pay. Lee later said it was the biggest mistake he had ever made in his career. Dr. Loomis was eventually played by Donald Pleasence who received $20,000 for 5 days work. Vincent Price was not involved in the project.

Carpenter's inspiration for the "evil" that Michael embodied came from a visit he had taken during college to a psychiatric institution in Kentucky. One of the psychiatric patients was an adolescent boy, who possessed a blank, "schizophrenic stare." Carpenter's experience inspired the characterization that Loomis gave of Michael to Sheriff Brackett in the film "I met this six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes; the devil's eyes ... I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply ... evil."

Seven people portrayed Michael at different stages of filming. It is Debra Hill's hands we see as "young Michael", Will Sandin plays Michael Myers at age 6, it is Tony Moran's face that is revealed when Laurie lifts Michael's mask, and although Nick Castle was only on set to hang out with his friend John Carpenter, he wears the mask for most of the filming. Production designer Tommy Lee Wallace portrays Myers in the closet scene, stuntman James Winburn portrays him as he falls out the window and a dog trainer plays him when he kills the Wallace's family dog.

The trademark mask worn by Michael Myers throughout the film was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white with the eye holes widened.

The Halloween theme is written in the 5/4 time signature. Director John Carpenter composed the simple, chilling music as it was the first thing his father had taught him how to play on a piano.

Between 1978 and 2018, the Halloween franchise had produced a total of eleven films.

In Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, it is finally revealed that Michael is the victim of an ancient Druid curse, which explains his inhuman strength and resiliency. Each child chosen to bear the curse of Thorn must sacrifice their next of kin on the night of Samhain.

In Halloween: Resurrection, college students win a competition to appear on the Internet reality show Dangertainment and spend the night in Michael's now abandoned childhood home.