This season was filmed in 2018, well before the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A message from host Phil Keoghan at the beginning of the US broadcast about the timing of the season's filming relative to the pandemic is the only time it is mentioned in the series. Keoghan explained that this was intentional in order to keep the series evergreen (or not time-sensitive).
This season was originally scheduled for broadcast in the United States from 20 May 2020, a week after the finale of the Winners At War season of Survivor (2000), but on 29 April 2020, 16 days after CBS first announced the scheduled airdate, they announced that the premiere would be postponed until late 2020, and Game On! (2020) would take The Amazing Race's place in the 8:00pm Wednesday timeslot. The postponement was designed in case the 2020-21 television season was postponed following the suspension of television production in the wake of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, to allow series previously filmed to take the place of series for which production was unable to start. When complications in filming the 41st season of Survivor meant that it was unable to be broadcast in the northern fall of 2020, CBS scheduled the 32nd season of The Amazing Race as a replacement for Survivor during its planned slot. This meant that this season has the longest gap between the completion of filming and its premiere, at 22 months.
This is the first time the US version of the franchise has visited Trinidad and Tobago.
This is the first time the last team to check in has been eliminated from the race at a point where other teams had to continue racing after receiving their next clue from host Phil Keoghan.
This is only the second time in the previous seven seasons that there has been no particular casting theme. In an interview with news website Gold Derby, host Phil Keoghan mentioned that the season would take a "back to basics" approach that would see the series and the cast return to its core elements.