Tonic Trouble started as a game created to test the engine for Rayman 2: The Great Escape.

Tonic Trouble's working titles were "Ed" and "Hed". The title of the game, having changed roughly 8 times through development, was decided through a vote on the IGN website. The poll is not known to have been preserved, and thus it is unknown what other titles were in consideration for the game.

During the end credits, there is a creature with a funnel on his head running around. The creature has a similar hair style and clothing to Rayman, whose second game was in development at the same time.

Ubisoft entered a partnership with American food company Newman's Own for the Windows release of the game. As part of this, Newman's Own Popcorn is featured both in-game as a power-up that turns Ed into Super Ed, and physical copies came with a free package of Newman's Own Popcorn. Likewise, Newman's Own began packing $10 rebate coupons for Tonic Trouble in 4 million boxes of its popcorn products: for every coupon redeemed with Ubisoft, they would donate $1 to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in France. In some versions of the game, this branding would be replaced with a similar one for the chocolate bar Nestlé Crunch.