It first opened on 24 September 1892 as "Theater Unter den Linden" with Adolf Ferron's operetta Daphne and Gaul and Haßreiter's ballet Die Welt in Bild und Tanz.

On 3 September 1898 the theatre was reopened as the Metropol-Theater (Berlin-Mitte) with Julius Freund's revue Paradies der Frauen.

Under their management, it saw the premieres of two operettas by Franz Lehár – Friederike (opera) in 1928 and Das Land des Lächelns in 1929, both starring Richard Tauber.

Following repair works and provisional rebuilding, the theatre reopened on 23 December 1947, as the Komische Oper with Johann Strauss's operetta Die Fledermaus.

In 2007 the company won, jointly with Oper Bremen, the "Opera house of the year" award by the German magazine Opernwelt.

In June 2008, the company announced the appointment of Barrie Kosky to succeed Homoki as its next Intendant, as of the 2012/2013 season.

Past General Music Directors (GMD) of the company have included Kurt Masur, Rolf Reuter,[8] Yakov Kreizberg, Kirill Petrenko, Carl St.Clair, Patrick Lange.

[10] In January 2022, the company announced the appointment of James Gaffigan as its next music director, effective with the 2023–2024 season, with an initial contract of 4 years.