[1] Following the style of MTV's Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, The Hills, and 8th & Ocean, Maui Fever was shot as a "reality drama" (in the format of a scripted television show).

[2] Maui Fever cast members never spoke directly to the camera or gave testimonials, a tactic used in MTV's The Real World and in traditional documentaries.

[6] After viewing the pilot and meeting with Hawaii's film commissioners, MTV executives gave Maui Fever "green light" status in August.

[6][8] Maui Fever was executive produced by Steve Michaels, Jonathan Koch, Morgan J. Freeman, Liz Gateley and Tony DiSanto.

[6] According to Hawaii's State Film Commissioner at that time, Donne Dawson, Maui Fever's producers were receptive to community and cultural concerns, and wanted the show to be as authentic as possible.

[13] In the tradition of Laguna Beach and The Hills, Maui Fever has been called "MTV's latest faux-reality semi-scripted hit TV show.

"[13] Many find that the aggressive editing tactics, used to mimic the style of a traditional television drama (rather than a reality show), make the scenes feel fabricated.

Due to the lack of racial diversity and the fact that very few of the cast members were long-time residents of Maui, at the time of the show's airing there were online petitions against it on websites such as MySpace.