Bahrov was born to a Russian family in the town of Novotroitske, Kherson Oblast on 26 October 1937.

In 1959-1961, he worked as a geography teacher at the Bagherov Secondary School in the Primorsky District of the Crimean region.

Since 1961, he has been working as a geological engineer at the Institute of Mineral Resources of the Crimean National Academy of Sciences in Simferopol.

In 2001, at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, he defended his doctoral dissertation on "Regional Geopolitics (on the Example of Crimea)".

On November 12, 2014, Mykola Bahrov was dismissed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine from the post of Rector of the Vernadsky Taurida National University due to his cooperation with the Russian occupation of Crimea.