The series was created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee, marking Cameron's television debut following his success with Titanic; it was the only project ever produced by their company Cameron/Eglee Productions.

Cameron was influenced by the manga Battle Angel Alita, which he had originally intended to adapt into a film before making Dark Angel instead.

Working titles for the series included 'Experimental Girl' and 'Maximum Girl', and the post-apocalyptic setting was partly inspired by the hysteria surrounding Y2K.

More than a thousand young actresses were considered for the role of Max; Cameron was initially unimpressed by Jessica Alba's audition tape but kept returning to it and eventually decided he needed to meet her in person.

Alba was cast as Max before the script was even written, and co-creator Charles H. Eglee said they wrote the character backward around her cadences, rhythms, and attitude.

To prepare for the physically demanding role, Jessica Alba spent a year training in martial arts and gymnastics and learning to ride motorcycles.

The two-hour pilot episode cost up to $10 million, while subsequent season-two episodes had a much smaller budget of about $1.3 million each.

The show was filmed in Vancouver at Lions Gate Studios and other British Columbia locations including the Vancouver Art Gallery, Buntzen Lake, and Riverview Hospital, despite being set in Seattle.

James Cameron personally stepped in to direct the season two finale after the intended director did not work out, partly to demonstrate to the network the show's potential for a third season; it was his first time directing a TV drama.

The producers were initially told the series had been renewed for a third season and celebrated, only to be informed two days later that Fox had reversed the decision and canceled the show instead.

The unproduced third season would have revealed that a comet's tail had deposited a deadly virus on Earth millennia ago, with a breeding cult preserving genetic immunity for its own members until Sandeman betrayed the cult to give that immunity to Max in order to save humanity.

The show's theme song was composed by Public Enemy's Chuck D and producer Gary G-Wiz, who said producers kept pushing him to make the theme 'crazier'.

Composer Joel McNeely described scoring Dark Angel as being like jazz compared to classical music, calling it 'as free form and as weird as we want to get'.

The series repeatedly pays homage to Blade Runner: Alec's love interest is named Rachel as a nod to the replicant Rachael, and his genetically-enhanced ability to quickly master a Chopin piano piece echoes a similar scene originally scripted for Blade Runner.

In 2016 it was recognized that Dark Angel was the first American television series to feature an openly transgender actress playing a transgender character, when Jessica Crockett portrayed 'Louise' in the season one episode 'Out'.

The 2007 film Hitman reused footage of Max and other Manticore children in training from Dark Angel to portray the cloned assassin protagonist Agent 47, who similarly has a barcode on the back of his head.