• Saurabh Raj Jain as Krishna: an incarnation of the god Vishnu, born to restore dharma. He serves as the strategic guide for the Pandavas. Kunwar Vikram Soni portrays adolescent Krishna.
• Shaheer Sheikh as Arjuna: the third Pandava prince and the son of Kunti–the wife of Pandu of the Kuru dynasty–and the god Indra. He is a master archer, who is guided by Krishna to fulfil his duty and uphold dharma in the Kurukshetra War. Soumya Singh portrays young Arjuna.
• Pooja Sharma as Draupadi: The princess of Panchala, born from Drupada’s sacrificial fire, destined to bring upheaval to the lands of Aryavarta. She becomes the common wife of the five Pandava brothers and later the empress of Indraprastha, and subsequently, Hastinapur.
• Arpit Ranka as Duryodhana: the eldest of the Kauravas, and Hastinapur’s crown prince, whose desire for power and enmity with the Pandavas fuels the Kurukshetra War. Alam Khan portrays young Duryodhana.
• Aham Sharma as Karna: a proficient archer, and the premarital son of the sun god Surya and Kunti. He is raised by a charioteer and becomes a steadfast ally of Duryodhana and the king of Anga, while also being the elder half-brother of the Pandavas. Vidyut Xavier portrays adolescent Karna.
• Rohit Bhardwaj as Yudhishthira: the eldest Pandava and paragon of justice, who becomes the emperor of Indraprastha and later Hastinapur. Rohit Shetty portrays young Yudhishthira.
• Saurav Gurjar as Bhima: the second Pandava, known for his unmatched strength and fiery nature, who ultimately kills all the Kauravas. Miraj Joshi portrays young Bhima.
• Vin Rana as Nakula: the fourth Pandava, who is known for his skill in swordsmanship. Devish Ahuja portrays young Nakula.
• Lavanya Bhardwaj as Sahadeva: the fifth Pandava, who is notable for his wisdom. Rudhraksh Jaiswal portrays young Sahadeva.
• Arav Chowdhary as Bhishma: the son of King Shantanu and the goddess Ganga, who is the revered grandsire of the Kuru dynasty, bound by a vow of celibacy and lifelong loyalty to Hastinapur.
• Praneet Bhat as Shakuni: the prince of Gandhara and brother to Gandhari, who acts as the cunning strategist behind Duryodhana’s plans, driven by a personal grudge.
• Shafaq Naaz as Kunti: the mother to the Pandavas who possesses a divine boon allowing her to invoke gods to bear children. Before her marriage, she uses it to bear Karna, and later, at the request of her husband Pandu, she invokes the gods to bear Yudhishthira, Bhima, and Arjuna.
• Thakur Anoop Singh as Dhritarashtra: the blind king of Hastinapur, who serves as the husband of Gandhari and father of the Kauravas.
• Riya Deepsi as Gandhari: the princess of Gandhara and queen of Hastinapur, who blindfolds herself in solidarity with her husband Dhritarashtra and is the mother of the Kauravas.

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In November 2005, a report from Variety stated Bobby Bedi's plan to make three feature films and 100 hours of television programming on Indian epic Mahabharat under Kaleidoscope Entertainment with the television version planned to be delivered by the end of 2007. In 2006 it was revealed making for Star Plus which was to be directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi. It was a part of Bedi's 360 degree approach to the epic through TV, film, gaming and theme parks. Planned for 100 episodes with new actors, it was planned to premiere in March 2008 but got postpone due to production to August 2008 and later January 2009.

During this, Ekta Kapoor was simultaneously producing a series on Mahabharat since January 2008 titled Kahaani Hamaarey Mahaabhaarat Ki for a rival channel to premiere in mid 2008 which she earlier planned for Star but could not as the channel roped Bedi. This led on to a pressure in the production as they wanted to rush their premiere before Kapoor due to which Dwivedi quit midway after association with them for two years after which three directors were working on it. But, they were not able to rush up the series before Kapoor's. 50 episodes were shot at the sets created in Morna between Noida and Delhi for a year after paying ₹6 Crores. However, as the channel was not satisfied with those episodes, they were asked to rework the entire series again pushing its premiere to 2009. But, Bedi reportedly started selling it in DVDs which created problems between them and the channel, and the production was stalled. However, in December 2008, Star took Bedi to Bombay High Court filing an arbitration petition alleging that the production house took ₹6 Crore for the production of the series in advance but has not produced even a single episode while a senior executive from the production house stated, " This legal notice is Star's way of pulling out of the show. Maybe it doesn't want to go ahead with the Mahabharat project after all." After these, the shooting was expected to restart from February 2009 but in mid 2009 the production was cancelled and the project was given over to Siddharth Kumar Tewary's Swastik Productions to start fresh.
It took us four years of research and brainstorming sessions to conceive and execute the show.— Siddharth Kumar Tewary

More than 400 people were involved in production with 200 people working on graphics. Renowned author Devdutt Pattanaik was roped as the chief consultant and guiding person for the series. Also writer Salim Khan, music directors Ajay-Atul and Ismail Darbar and action director Ram Shetty were involved.

Speaking about bringing Mahabharat to television again, Star Plus senior vice-president Nikhil Madhok said, "With over 20 years having passed since the telecast of Mahabharat serial on Doordarshan, we felt that the younger generation should be re-introduced to this epic. Also, the plot of this epic is open to interpretation and has many intricacies in it, unlike that of let's say Ramayan, which is fairly linear and is passed on from generation to generation."

According to producer Siddharth Kumar Tewary, the Draupadi cheer haran (disrobing) sequence, which Tewary himself directed, took 20 days to shoot.

Even in the last fight between Bheema and Duryodhana, the actors shared th…

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Writing for Rediff, Nishi Tiwari wrote that "If it maintains the quality of writing and able actors who portray key characters, we may have another winner among us". DNA India praised the costumes, scenery, Krishna's flute theme which was given by Raj Mohan Sinha, and most of the CGI special effects, but said the serial's pace was too fast.

Hindustan Times criticised, "Everything is so exaggerated that you feel you are watching a series of unreal events rather than following a deeply emotional story. Even relatively less important moments are treated with such overblown drama that when you really need the drama at crucial junctures — such as Bheeshma’s brahmacharya pledge — the impact is lost." The background music was also criticised for being loud all the time.
Its premiere had a viewership of approximately 8.4 million impressions (8.445 TVTs - Television Viewership in Thousands) and 4.09 TVR. That week it averaged 6.356 TVTs. The viewership ratings of the week of 1 December 2013 reached 9.801 TVTs. The game of dice leading to Draupadi's 'cheer haran' took Mahabharat at its peak viewership (10 TVMs) and helped the broadcasting channel Star Plus clock one of the highest GTVMs. Overall, it became the tenth most watched Hindi GEC of 2013 with an average viewership of 5.6 million and a peak viewership of 7.2 million.

In week 29 of 2014, it was at fifth position with 7.1 TVTs while the following week it jumped to second position with 9.2 TVTs.

The show was listed in the list of top 20 TV series of all time in 2016.

During the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown in India, it started re-airing on Star Plus from 30 March 2020 to 25 July 2020. It soon became one of the most-watched Hindi GEC series featuring in the top five programs even during the re-run.