One of the few Saturday morning cartoons that actually show characters dying. In the episode "Break Up", Ioz and Tula are fleeing from the guards during a revolt on Pandawa, as one of the guards falls into the water where Dark Water engulfs him. In the episode "A Drop of Darkness" the old woman Cray tries to make a youth potion. It doesn't turn out well and instead ages her to the point where she becomes so old she dies.
Due to the good ratings the show received, the producers decided to extend the adventures by finding fewer treasures per season. While working on the second season (episode "The Dark Disciples" to "The Living Treasure"), Fil-Cartoons (Overseas Animation studio) had some difficulties animating the last four episodes ("The Pandawa Plague" - "The Living Treasure"). This caused problems for Hanna-Barbera animation studio as the episodes were coming in late, preventing the show from meeting air dates. This contributed to the show's cancellation in November 1992. The last four episodes were finished and aired six months later (May 1993). By that time, most of the crew of the show were in the middle of the production of Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron (1993). Cos Anzilotti (producer of the second season) was in production of Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990). Due to the failure to meet the air dates, Jayne Barbera was replaced by Catherine Winder as "Executive in Charge of Production" for later Hanna-Barbera shows like Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron (1993) and 2 Stupid Dogs (1993).
This show was originally released as "Dark Water". After five episodes, executives at Hanna-Barbera (owned by Ted Turner at that time) decided to make the show less serious and from episode six ( "Andorus" ), the show was named Pirates of Dark Water, less serious compared to those first five episodes.
In the Warner Brothers DVD version of this show, the ending credits for the first episode and the third episode are incorrect. For the first episode, the ending credits are supposed to be with an octopus on the background. In the end credits of the first episode, the writers of that episode should be listed as Kelly Ward, Mark Young, and Flint Dille. In the end credits of the third episode, the writers should be listed as Lane Raichert and Mark Young.
After the first five episodes, Roddy McDowall requested a higher salary for his role of Niddler. But the studio denied his request. So he quit and left the production, and Frank Welker (who did squawking voices for Niddler) took over the role.