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Marc Cherry has said that Bree is based on his own mother.
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The house that Bree Van De Kamp lives in was previously used in the NBC 1999 drama Providence.
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According to the book Desperate Networks, show creator Marc Cherry insisted every actor had to audition for a part. Several actresses up for the part of Susan declined to audition and passed on the role. Felicity Huffman also declined to audition for the role of Lynette, preferring to be offered the role instead. Her agents convinced her otherwise, and she agreed to audition. Marc Cherry was so impressed with her performance, that he offered her the part.
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Roselyn Sanchez lost the part of Gabrielle to Eva Longoria Parker at the final auditions.
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A fan loved the dress Gabrielle wore in the pilot so much that she wrote to the producers asking for the name of the designer and if he could design her a prom dress. The producers instead sent her the actual gown and she wore it to her prom.
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Dana Delany auditioned for the role of Bree and was offered the part. After thinking about it, she declined the role. Her reasoning was that she had played a similar role in the soap Pasadena, and felt she would be repeating herself. Still, in season four she joined the cast of "Desperate Housewives" playing Katherine Mayfair, a character that is very similar to Bree.
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Calista Flockhart, Heather Locklear, and Mary-Louise Parker were considered for the role of Susan. Courteney Cox Arquette was also considered for the role of Susan. Marc Cherry didn't ask her because at the time she was pregnant with her daughter Coco and had expressed interest in taking some time off to raise the baby.
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Marcia Cross originally tried for the part of Mary Alice Young, but was cast as Bree Van De Kamp. Nicollette Sheridan tried for the part of Bree Van De Kamp, but was cast as Edie Britt.
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Creator Marc Cherry said he got the idea to write the pilot after a conversation with his mother. She told him that raising Cherry and his siblings with their father away most of the time made her feel desperate sometimes.
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In the unaired version of the pilot, the final scene during which the camera pulls away from the girls after they discover Mary Alice's secret paper, a ghost-like version of Mary Alice is standing in the yard behind the girls. Also, even though it is the same shot in the original pilot and the aired version, the grass in Mary Alice's yard looks to be poorly cared for, but in the aired version, it has been digitally edited to look unnaturally healthy.
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In the original pilot episode the role of Rex Van De Kamp played in this episode was actor Michael Reilly Burke but was let go after the series was picked up by ABC.
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In this original pilot of "Desperate Housewives" the role of gardener John was played by actor Kyle Searles. After the series was picked up by ABC he was released from the role.
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In this original pilot of Desperate Housewives actress Sheryl Lee played the lead role (and narrator) of dead Mary Alice Scott. When the series was picked up she was released from the role. This would've been her second dead character after her famous role of Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks.
