In the Sega Genesis port, the main protagonists of the Hebereke series can be seen throughout level 18, with music from the original Hebereke being played in the background.

The impetus for Lemmings came from an animation created by Mike Dailly to prove he could draw recognizable human figures under an 8x8 pixel restriction (as coworker Scott Johnson was drawing them for another game under a 16x16 restriction). Gary Timmons added to the animation and also made the proto-Lemmings' walk cycle more fluid.

The level editor for Lemmings used by DMA Design was based on Deluxe Paint's interface. The familiar interface meant they were able to create levels more easily, competing with one another to create the most difficult level designs that they could. Unfortunately this led to them having a large amount of hard levels, requiring them to go back and design new easier ones for the start of the game.

There was originally going to be a Lemmings arcade port by Data East. The port got to the prototype stage before being cancelled. it was the first Lemmings game to include a "fast-forward" function, a feature that was later used in future ports and sequels.