A sequel to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) had been in the works for several years, but stalled, even with Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, and Steve Carell taking pay cuts to keep the budget down. Paramount Pictures didn't like the numbers, and didn't agree to a sequel initially. However, the studio later decided to greenlight the sequel.
To promote the movie, Will Ferrell appeared in character as Ron Burgundy anchoring several events, including Canadian Olympic curling trials, and a local North Dakota newscast. Ferrell was set to anchor ESPN's flagship program SportsCenter in character, but his appearance on the famed 6 PM EST of the program was canceled.
When Eltrousias of the Clouds (Kirsten Dunst) blows her horn, Jack Lime (James Marsden) says "I banged her!" This is a reference to Bachelorette (2012) when he and Dunst had a sex scene.
Prior to filming, several thousand dollars worth of filming and production equipment was stolen from the warehouse in which it was stored.
The film was originally conceived as a musical.