"Darker than Black" was conceptualized by Tensai Okamura and produced by Bones and Aniplex.The series premiered on Tokyo Broadcasting System and Mainichi Broadcasting System's Thursday late night anime broadcasting timeslot, replacing the Sunrise series "" on April 5, 2007, and similar to "Code Geass" incorporated corporate sponsorship of Japan News Network partners Pizza Hut and Nifty, where episodes of the series was streamed every week during the series' broadcast run.