Many of the game's characters' names are word plays and references to story events, the characters themselves and real people.

• Tiz Arrior = "this warrior", while "tiz" also being Hungarian for "ten"
• Ringabel = "ring a bell"
• Agnès Oblige = "Agnes" could either refer to the Ancient Greek word "agnós" meaning "pure" or the French word "agnelle" (feminine) meaning "lamb". "Oblige" simply means obligation.
• Airy = "fairy"
• Edea Lee, Braev Lee and Mahzer Lee: "ideally", "bravely" and "motherly"
• Holly Whyte = "holy white"
• Ominas Crowe = "ominous crow"
• Barras Lehr = "bear wrestler"
• Argent Heinkel = "Silver Heinkel", "argent" being "silver" in French and Heinkel being a German aircraft.
• Eloch Quentis Khamer VII = "eloquent scammer"
• Erutus Profiteur = "a ruthless profiteer"
• Ciggma Khint = anagram for "magic knight"
• Fiore DeRosa = "pink flower" in Italian
• Artemia, Mephilia and Einheria Venus = Artemis, a Greek goddess of the moon and a huntress; Mephistopheles, a collector of souls from the Faust Legend; Einherjars are warriors of Norse mythology, often associated with Valkyries; Venus, the sisters' last name, is the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility.
• Nobutsuna Kamiizumi = Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami Fujiwara-no-Nobutsuna is a famous samurai from Japan's Sengoku period and the creator of Kenjutsu
• Hayreddin Barbarossa = Shares his name with an Ottoman admiral of the fleet and an emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Since he is a pirate, his last name could also refer to Captain Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean.
• Kikyo Konoe = "kikyo" means "Chinese bellflower"
• Qada = "God's will" or "divine decree" in Arabic
• Praline à  la Mode = "à la Mode" is French roughly meaning "fashionable" but is also a kind of a dessert. Pralines are French confectioneries.
• Alternis Dim = "alternate dimension"
• Victor S. Court = His middle initial and last name come together as "escort"
• Victoria F. Stein = Reference to Victor Frankenstein
• Lester DeRosso = Lestat de Lioncourt from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

When the project first got started it was a very standard RPG akin to Final Fantasy III or Final Fantasy V, but the concern was it wouldn't be a good decision for a new IP like Bravely Default was intended to be. With the battle points system, Nakahara felt like it had the chance to turn the whole game around.

According to the producer Tomoyo Asano, the "Bravely Default" means:
This is the core theme behind the game's scenarios.

Bravely Default entered development as a 3DS sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, but Square Enix decided to re-purpose the game as a completely new yet related IP with an original title so as not to confuse modern-day Final Fantasy fans, as the game's direction is different from the modern games of the series and closer in style to the older instalments.

The novelty of Defaulting and Braving came from idea that whenever bosses in Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy got to do two different attacks in the same turn. It had always annoyed director Kensuke Nakahara and the team was discussing something in the battles that would be simple yet provide a chance for deeper strategy, such as the 'charge' command in the Dragon Quest series.

By entering the Konami code on the title screen, it's possible to see a special teaser trailer for the game's sequel, Bravely Second: End Layer. This teaser can also be seen after completing the game's final chapter.

After chapter 6, Spoiler:the title screen will change and most of the letters in the subtitle "Where the Fairy Flies" will turn red and disappear, leaving the words "Airy lies". The same can be seen on the Japanese version of the game, where the "F"s of "Flying Fairy" fade, turning the phrase into "Lying Airy".

The game's storytelling was inspired by American television dramas, specifically the shows "90210" and "Glee".

The western release of the game is based on the Japanese re-release, Bravely Default: For The Sequel. Differences between the original Japanese release and For The Sequel include updated graphics, new story elements, and numerous mechanical tweaks.

The Western releases of the game were censored, with several outfits made less revealing and the ages of some characters were raised from 15 to 18.