The horror film Sweet Home (1989), its spin-off game Sûîto hômu (1989) and the game Alone in the Dark (1992) were credited by creator Shinji Mikami as the main inspirations for this first game in the Resident Evil series. Sweet Home and Alone in the Dark are both about a group of people entering a haunted mansion (albeit haunted by supernatural entities or occult monsters rather than genetically engineered abominations). Other influences that Mikami has acknowledged are Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and The Shining (1980).
The game was renamed from it's original Japanese title "Biohazard" because it would be almost impossible to register the name in America. Capcom's Chris Kramer points out that both a "Crappy DOS-based game" and a New York-based Punk band were both named "Biohazard" in the US. This caused the team to have a company-wide contest to rename the game. The winner, "Resident Evil", was initially felt to be a cheesy title by most, but the name stuck because no one could think of a better title.
The game series has worldwide sales of more than 100 million copies as of 2020.
Along with the remake, this is the only "Biohazard"/"Resident Evil" to feature a "best-case-scenario" ending which does not elude to a possible sequel or spin-off and suggests that "everything is finally over". The reason for this is possibly because the company was uncertain how well the game would be received, so this game could stand on its own story-wise if it failed economically.
It's never mentioned where in the US Raccoon City is located, but in the novels based on the games written by S.D. Perry, it's said to be located in Pennsylvania.