After working on other projects, most notably directing two episodes of the British thriller series Top Boy in 2019, DaCosta became the first black female director to debut at No.

She became obsessed with films after watching Apocalypse Now, which led her to study cinema from the New Hollywood era, finding inspiration in directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg.

[2] Citing Scorsese in particular as her primary influence, she enrolled at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated in 2011.

[10][better source needed] After finishing Little Woods, DaCosta directed two episodes of the third season of the crime-drama Top Boy.

[6] DaCosta became a co-creator, alongside Aron Eli Coleite, when she worked on an 8-episode web series called Ghost Tape (2020).

DaCosta further remarked on the production aspect of the film, "It's very difficult for a woman to just pop up in the studio system.

[16] In a 2018 interview, DaCosta stated the importance to her of telling stories of "women who are active" rather than passive figures in movies led by men.

[29] She is the fourth woman to direct a Marvel film behind Anna Boden, Cate Shortland, and Chloé Zhao.

[31][32][33] It is the first box-office bomb and the lowest-grossing film of the MCU franchise,[34][35][36] falling short of an estimated break-even point of $439.6 million.

[32] Abby Olcese, for Paste, thought that "DaCosta's assured, efficient direction" was an example of what the MCU could have been if the franchise "hadn't gotten bogged down by gloopy effects and overblown lore".

[39] In contrast, James Mottram of NME felt that the film "never musters the same level of engagement" as DaCosta's Candyman even with "a script that is chock full of good lines and a cast of willing participants".

[41] DaCosta was the first black female director to debut a film at number one at the American box office, for Candyman.