It was directed by Colm McCarthy and written by series creator Charlie Brooker, with one part adapted from a story by Penn Jillette.

The episode is divided into three stories, told by Rolo Haynes (Douglas Hodge), the owner of a remote Black Museum.

"Black Museum" was met with mixed critical reception: most reviewers found its storyline and characterisation poor and the final plot twist proved polarising.

The proprietor, Rolo Haynes (Douglas Hodge), explains backstories to the museum's crime-related artefacts, starting with a hairnet device.

In a flashback, Dr. Peter Dawson (Daniel Lapaine) agreed to test an implant that made him feel the physical sensations of the person wearing the hairnet.

Moving on to a toy monkey, Rolo describes how he convinced Jack (Aldis Hodge) to transfer his comatose wife Carrie's (Alexandra Roach) consciousness into part of his brain, so she could experience his physical sensations and communicate with him.

After public protests, attendance to the exhibit dwindled to sadists and wealthy white supremacists, who left Clayton's hologram in a vegetative state.

[5] The first part of the anthology, involving Dr. Peter Dawson, was based on the short story "The Pain Addict" authored by magician Penn Jillette early in his career.

[6] Jillette had written the story based on the personal experience of being ill in a Spanish welfare hospital in 1981, where it was difficult to get a diagnosis due to the language barrier.

The story continued with the doctor "beating people to feel their pain", engaging in sadomasochism and desiring to experience what Jesus felt while being crucified.

[5] Douglas Hodge starred in the episode as Rolo Haynes, describing his character as a white supremacist and "the most toxic person" he had played.

Scenes which relate to the plot twist of Nish's true intentions at the museum—such as her first sighting of the museum, her handing Rolo water and her entering the exhibit where her father is—were shot in many different ways.

[5] Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones participated in the edit of the episode, aiming to find a more human side to Rolo's character at certain points, and omitting some of the darker moments.

[5] The music for the episode was composed by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, who commented on the score: "The beginning, discovering the Black Museum, that was going to set the tone for the rest of the show.

[28] Robinson said that the "storytelling style" is as in previous instalments, but not the "moral framework": rather than the notion that "people are terrible" or "technology is dangerous", it revolves around Rolo being "personally loathsome".

[28] Reviewing the stories' tones, Robinson found the first to be "dim and claustrophobic", the second "naturalistic" and the last "shot with a grind house seediness".

[27] The episode was compared by Robinson to the 1990s horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt, with Rolo Haynes in a role similar to the cryptkeeper.

[29] The technology allowing Dr. Peter Dawson to experience other people's physical sensations was compared by Charles Bramesco of Vulture to the 19th century novella The Corsican Brothers, about a pair of formerly conjoined twins who can feel the other's pain.

[33] The ending saw Rolo the victim of the technology he had created, similar to Robert Daly's outcome in series four episode "USS Callister".

The episode also makes multiple allusions to "San Junipero", including the company TCKR, a hospital named Saint Juniper's and Yorkie and Kelly's dresses being on display in the museum.

[24] Greene believed the museum served as an analogy to the series, which is about "finding addictive entertainment value in the plight of removed dystopias".

[32] Many museum items are taken from previous episodes, for instance: an autonomous drone insect (ADI) from "Hated in the Nation"; the lollipop Daly uses to clone Walton's son in "USS Callister"; the tablet used by Marie in "Arkangel"; and the bloodied bathtub where Shazia's husband was murdered in "Crocodile".

[31][35][39] Sonia Saraiya of Variety called it the "worst episode" of the series, Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly finding it the "only outright stinker".

[39][40] Handlen reviewed that its "obvious setups" led to the work lacking "surprise or insight", while Tate found that the characters were not developed well.

[27] Contrastingly, Ransome found it the "most satisfying" instalment of the series, commenting that many reviewers "all seemed blind to the episode's overarching thesis on race".

[29] Tate found the first to be "competent if predictable", though Gilbert reviewed that the homeless man's murder was "one of the most gratuitously violent scenes" in the show.

[24][31] Tate found the second story the best, though Framke thought it "not especially convincing" and Bramesco believing Jack to be the "dumbest man in history" for agreeing to the consciousness transfer into his head.

Bramesco found that it "doesn't make a whole lot of sense in terms of storytelling" and Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian thought it repeated previous themes of the series.

[24][34] Mellor found the twist to be "great" and "satisfying", though Tate thought only the reveal that Nish's mother's consciousness was inside her head was "genuinely unexpected".