According to C.K., the sparse apartment set and the banter between Louie and Kim was inspired by The Honeymooners (1955). C.K. used the actual blueprints of The Honeymooners set when having his set built.
According to Louis C.K., the series had better ratings than Deadwood (2004), but a certain HBO executive hated the show and pushed for it to be cancelled. The executive felt that the show's working class image did not fit with the network's high class image.
Louis' apartment has a window in the kitchen looking out to a building in the distance, but in the hallway there is a door to another apartment (straight across from Walter and Ellen's apartment), which would be right behind where Louis' window is.