One of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in color,[1][2] its title derives from Cousteau's 1953 book The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure.

Cousteau and his team of divers shot 25 kilometers of film over two years in the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, of which 2.5 kilometers were included in the finished documentary.

In another, Cousteau uses dynamite near a coral reef in order to make a more complete census of the marine life in its vicinity.

[3] The Silent World opened at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d'Or award;[4] it was the only documentary film to win the award until Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 repeated the feat in 2004.

The film was released in the United States on September 24, 1956 by Columbia Pictures and earned theatrical rentals of over $3 million.