Produced for the Discovery Channel, the show's title is derived from the inherent high risk of injury or death associated with this line of work.

Because Deadliest Catch is essentially a filmed record of everyday life in a stressful working environment, the producers have to censor gestures and language deemed inappropriate for television audiences.

[3] For visual disguise of such items as finger gestures, bloody injuries, or non-featured crew member anonymity, the producers use the traditional pixelization or blurring.

Following the first season, original broadcast episodes of the show used the Bon Jovi song "Wanted Dead or Alive" as the main theme.

[9] One of the series' main features is the portrayal of the harsh life at sea, including the behavior and mannerisms of the fishermen who are engaged in a hazardous lifestyle with little tolerance for low performance or ineptitude.

Another filmed incident was a fight on board the fishing vessel Wizard in which a greenhorn sailor sucker punched a veteran fisherman who had been engaged in harassment and bullying.

In the early seasons, when many of the camera crews had little or no experience on crab boats, they frequently ran into dangers not normally encountered when shooting a documentary.

During an episode of season 4, Wizard captain Keith Colburn demanded that cameras be turned off when he got into a heated argument with his brother Monte.

Also, in season 4, F/V Cornelia Marie Captain Phil Harris asked the cameraman filming him not to tell anyone else about his injuries, for fear it would stall his fishing.

Later on, crew member and later acting captain Murray Gamrath, concerned for Phil's well-being, asked a cameraman to keep an eye on him and to report any problem.

[14] On January 29, 2010, as Original Productions' crews shot footage for season 6 of the F/V Cornelia Marie offloading C. opilio crab at St. Paul Island, Captain Phil Harris, who had earlier complained of being excessively tired, went to his stateroom to retrieve pain medicines and collapsed after suffering a stroke.

According to Thom Beers, producer and creator of Deadliest Catch, Harris insisted that the camera crews continue to film him.

[15] The Soul Rebels Brass Band performed a New Orleans style Jazz Funeral for the late Captain Phil Harris on After The Catch.

[34] ^1 During the shooting of the first season of Deadliest Catch, the F/V Big Valley sank on January 15, 2005, sometime after 0734 Alaska Standard Time when the Coast Guard first detected her EPIRB signal.

Discovery Channel camera crews on the F/V Maverick and F/V Cornelia Marie captured the first footage of the debris field, confirming that the boat had capsized and gone down.

[52] In 2016, The New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that Deadliest Catch was "most popular in areas that are rural, cold and close to the sea, particularly Alaska and Maine".

"[54] The show was created as a regular series after two well-received pilots about Alaskan crabbing were produced by Thom Beers for the Discovery Channel.

The first season aired in 2007, filmed at the Lockspot Cafe, a bar in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, hosted by Deadliest Catch narrator Mike Rowe.

The third season, titled After the Catch III, aired in 2009 and was filmed at RTs Longboard Bar and Grill in San Diego with Cash Cab's Ben Bailey hosting.

The Bait is a "pregame show" roundtable documentary-style television mini-series that previews select episodes of Deadliest Catch since season 9, filmed in Dutch Harbor, and hosted by Sig Hansen, Johnathan, and Andy Hillstrand, and Keith Colburn, with narration by Deadliest Catch narrator Mike Rowe.

Regular features include "The Hot Seat" (interview focused on one Captain or deckhand) and questions from celebrity fans of the show.

On Deck is an expanded episode of Deadliest Catch featuring previously unaired footage, production notes, facts, and on occasion, social media comments.

A 2013 episode of MythBusters featured Johnathan Hillstrand and Scott Campbell Jr. traveling to M5 Industries in San Francisco to help bust three myths related to crab fishing: that someone can get caught in a pot's rope as it is dumped and be dragged to the bottom (plausible), that 20-minute naps every 6 hours can double effectiveness over a 30-hour shift (confirmed) and that crab pots are impervious to explosives (busted).

The Discovery/Science documentary program How It's Made showed the production of oceanographic buoys, sushi, rubber boots, and industrial wire ropes in this episode featuring items used in or connected with crab fishing.

Edited by Larry Erikson, the book contains true stories of life and death at sea, as related by the captains and deckhands featured on the series.

In December 2009, Travis Arket, deckhand of the North American, released a book titled Deadliest Waters: Bering Sea Photography (ISBN 978-1935359210).

This book is the first photography collection to be published about Bering Sea crab fishing and includes many people from Deadliest Catch.

Liquid Dragon designers spent time with the Hansens on the F/V Northwestern in the safety of Dutch Harbor and out on the Bering Sea to give them a sense of the real conditions that needed to be duplicated in the game.

[63] The series focuses on Sig Hansen and his daughter, Mandy, as they try their hand at fishing off the coast of Norway after the Alaskan red king crab fishery is shut down.

Mandy, in order to lure Saga captain and co-owner Jake Anderson, into going fishing with them, offers him a 10% ownership stake into the business, taken from her own percentage.