[4][5][6] In late 1942,[7][8][9][10][11] a mutiny occurs on U-612 against Captain Klaus Hoffmann, while French Resistance in La Rochelle recruit German translator Simone Strasser.

[13] The war continues to exert its forces on unexpected territories, neutral Portugal and Kiel, while Royal Navy Commander Swinburne pursues U-949 in the Atlantic.

[27] Therefore, the decision by the creators and co-writers, Tony Saint and Johannes W. Betz, to set the series in late 1942, "after the Allies have cracked the German military's Enigma code and can track the movement of their submarine fleets", enabled a foretelling of the impacts of these events, not only upon the U-boat crews but also their loved ones and others connected to them.

[40][41] Cinematographer Armin Franzen [de] explains that an advantage of the larger 8K format is not having to use wide camera lenses such as the 21mm when shooting inside the small enclosed interiors of the submarine sets.

[39][18][62] German and British writers, Johannes W. Betz, Tony Saint, Colin Teevan and Judith Angerbauer, among others, collaborate to ensure that the nuances of the languages are appropriately translated and deployed.

[64][65] Working with director Andreas Prochaska in season one, their goal was to find a balance between the emotional and the abstract in order to express "a sense of loneliness" as well as "vast space".

[65] For the remainder of the score, Weber also wanted to achieve a contemporary feel in a similar way to Doldinger by employing only the sounds of the Haken Continuum without accompaniment and adding drone-like rhythms.

[64][65] After previewing the first episode of the series in 2018, Doldinger commented: "it was fascinating to see how the world of Das Boot is brought to life together with the play of images and Matthias Weber's interpretation of the main motif.

[73] Footage, sets and models from that movie have been reused for other productions, including Submerged, depicting the loss of USS Sailfish, and the fictional HMS Scorpion in Ghostboat.

Other nautical fiction[79][80] and non-fiction tropes[81][82] include: mutiny,[83] sailors' superstitions, Ahab-like obsessions, and the cliches of the submarine screen genre, namely "claustrophobia, fire and flood, creaking hulls, dwindling oxygen, an unstable crew member, ... periscope POV, playing possum, depth charges, silent running", and frantic calls of "Alarm!".

[91] The critics' consensus reads: "Das Boot possesses the atmospheric pressure of its cinematic forebear while adding new depth to its compelling ensemble, making for a riveting international production".

[93] Thomas Klein from Berliner Zeitung noted that there were "no Nazis in Das Boot, no 'Heil Hitler', no staunch party members", and the series was more about the commercialisation of a famous brand.

[96] According to Adam Sweeting of i [newspaper], Das Boot stands apart from its predecessor by going beyond inducing the feeling of claustrophobia inside a submarine and offers instead a "satellite-vision scope".

[97] In season two, in particular, this perspective shows how von Reinhartz, Simone, Frank Strasser and Margot Bostal, react to the pains of war and make compromises which they know to be "soul-destroying" in order to survive and stand up to the Nazis.