[34] Historian Klaas Voss from the Hamburg Institute for Social Research was very important in providing historical information.

[34] Jonas Nay, who played Martin, said he received technical assistance from military adviser/NATO expert Steffen Meier.

[39] Radsi said she knew producer Winger from working together on the popular German TV show, Leipzig Homicide.

[14][42] The show makes extensive use of 1980s popular music, including Nena's "99 Luftballons", David Bowie, New Order and Eurythmics among others.

[44] The theme for the respective English-subtitled North American and UK broadcasts of the series featured Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)" – the English-language version of Schilling's big 1983 European hit "Major Tom (völlig losgelöst)".

The consensus states: "An engrossing drama with a fun '80s soundtrack, Deutschland 83 chronicles an intense spy story that brings viewers uncomfortably close to the Iron Curtain.

[6][55] In its US television premiere, it also received positive reviews, with mention of its humor and successful depiction of a Cold War thriller, with favorable comparisons to the US show, The Americans.

[59][60][61][62] Writing in The New Yorker, Emily Nussbaum called the show a gorgeous, slinky thriller, praising its recreation of 1983 Germany as "nearly as aesthetically aspirational" as Mad Men.

She questioned the plot line's credibility as Martin's character repeatedly landed, Zelig-like, "at the center of world-historical events", but didn't deem this to be a "deal-breaker".

[63] In a mixed review, The New York Times compared the series to shows on the network The CW, given that it focuses on a young adult struggling with being "the only glimmer of sanity in a world gone mad".

Marka's opening credits[67] "combine the song's synth vibes with more ominous historical imagery and a little bit of the show's humor.

[5][6] The success of Deutschland 83 in the US and UK paved the way for another series also featuring a young Stasi agent dispatched to West Germany under an assumed identity, The Same Sky.