Love in the Moonlight

• Park Bo-gum as Lee Yeong[11][12]
  • Jung Yun-seok as young Yeong

He is the only son of the King and heir to the throne. Smart, bright and mischievous, he is disliked by his servants for being unpredictable. He has an affinity towards arts and music.

• Kim Yoo-jung as Hong Ra-on/Hong sam-nom[13][14]
  • Kim Ji-young as young Ra-on

Popular and street-smart, she was raised as a boy by her mother and makes a living by disguising herself as a male relationship counselor and romance novel author under the name Sam-nom. She eventually became a eunuch of Yeong.

• Jinyoung as Kim Yoon-sung
  • Lee Hyo-je as young Yoon-sung

Charismatic and poised, he is a scholar born to a powerful family. He grew up alongside Yeong and used to be best friends with him.

• Chae Soo-bin as Jo Ha-yeon

A lady ahead of her generation, she is proud, worldly and straightforward. As the daughter of the influential Minister of Rites, she was chosen as crown princess of Yeong.

• Kwak Dong-yeon as Kim Byung-yeon
  • Noh Kang-min as young Byung-yeon

A skilled swordsman and scholar, he is also the Head of the Royal Guard of the Crown Prince's palace. Not only is he Yeong's childhood friend, he is also his trusted confidant. However he hides a secret that he cannot tell Lee-yeong, for fear of losing his trust.

In December 2015, KBS Media announced that they will be adapting and producing the popular novel Moonlight Drawn by Clouds written by Yoon Yi-soo.[15][16][17] Park Bo-gum joined the project in February 2016 and Kim Yoo-jung boarded in April. The first script reading was held in Yeoido, Seoul on May 26, 2016 and filming began in early June.[18]Love in the Moonlight is the second collaboration between director Kim Sung-yoon and writers Kim Min-jung and Im Ye-jin after working on Who Are You: School 2015 and director Baek Sang-hoon, cinematographer Kim Si-hyeong and music director Gaemi after working on Descendants of the Sun (2016).[19]

Due to high audience ratings, KBS negotiated for the production to extend its original 18 episodes to 20. Chief producer Kang Byung-taek declined saying that the framework of the story had already been laid out and it would only yield complications with the cast and crew's respective schedules.[20]

The drama's first teaser, with lead actor Park dressed in dragon robe dancing to Jessy Matador's French pop-song "Bomba" in front of Gwanghwamun, was released in July 2016 and became a viral hit.[21][22]

In a press conference held on August 18, 2016, director Kim Sung-yoon indicated that despite the series being set in the 19th century, the production aimed to show a more contemporary message adding: "Our focus was on creating a romance that's pretty and charming but also sad. We'd like viewers to be able to identify with the emotions displayed. There's no grand metaphor. Rather than unveiling a political message, we focused on telling a story that's easy to identify with."[23][24]

In August 2016, OU Entertainment's Gaemi, real name Kang Dong-yoon, joined the project as music director.[25] Jinyoung, who plays Yoon-sung, composed and produced "Misty Road" sung by Ben.[26] "My Person", which lead actor Park finished recording in October 2016 was co-written by composer Kim Se-jin.[27] It topped Melon, Mnet, Bugs, olleh, Soribada, Genie, Naver and Monkey3 charts upon its release.[28][29]

The two-disc soundtrack album was released on October 27, 2016 and consists of 13 tracks including a humming version of "Because I Miss You", 13 instrumentals and three special background music created by folk-fusion band Second Moon.[30][31]

The drama marked the comeback of acclaimed balladeers Sung Si-kyung and Baek Ji-young after two years.[32][33][34]

In this table, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

• A 57-minute special broadcast was aired on August 29, prior to episode three, and contained condensed versions of episodes one and two.[74]
• A 150-minute Chuseok holiday broadcast was aired on September 16 and consisted of condensed versions of episodes 1 to 8 and behind-the-scenes clips.[75]
• An 85-minute special episode aired after the finale on October 18. It was hosted by comedians Kim Jun-hyun and Jung Yi-rang with narration by the casts. It included behind-the-scenes clips, unreleased footage and interviews.[76]
• A 70-minute, spoiler-filled making-of entitled 150 Days of Traveling in the Moonlight was aired exclusively on KBS World in November 11, 2016.[77]