The concept of Bones was developed during the latter part of the pitching season of 2004 when 20th Century Fox approached series creator Hart Hanson with an idea of a forensics show. Hanson was asked to meet with executive producer Barry Josephson, who had purchased the rights to produce a documentary on the forensic anthropologist and author Kathy Reichs. Although Hanson was reluctant about being involved in making a police procedural, he signed on and wrote the pilot episode after having an intensive meeting with Josephson about the show. As the show is based on the works of Reichs, the writers constantly involve her in the process of producing the episodes' storylines.

In order to make Bones a unique crime drama in the midst of the multiple procedural dramas that already populated network television like the CSI and Law & Order franchises, Hanson decided to infuse the show with humor and character development as much as possible. Another element conceived for the show was the "Angelator", a holographic projector whose use is to replace flashbacks that is often used by other procedural shows. In addition to their expositional purposes, the holographic images, which are created by special effects, brought a unique visual style to the show that the producers were looking for.