The 1968 film, The Producers, was adapted as a critically acclaimed Broadway musical by Mel Brooks in 2001. Its first run starred Nathan Lane (who reprised that role during the show's first run on London's West End) and Matthew Broderick and won 12 Tony Awards, breaking the record held for 37 years by Hello Dolly! which had won 10. A later run starring Richard Kind and Steven Weber in Lane and Broderick's respective roles was not as successful, prompting the show's actual producers to briefly re-hire Lane and Broderick for another Broadway run. Although the musical has many scenes and jokes taken directly from the film, there are still many differences. Ulla has a much larger role, as does Springtime for Hitler director Roger DeBris. The character Lorenzo St. Dubois (LSD), a hippie who played Hitler in the 1968 movie, does not appear in the new version. Overall the musical is much more upbeat and ends more happily, with even the Nazi character Franz Liebkind being portrayed more sympathetically and getting a happy ending.

The humour of the show is accessible to a wide range of audiences, and draws on ridiculous accents, caricatures of homosexuality/Nazis, and many showbusiness in-jokes.