Deadly Premonition originally started development as a multi-platform game under the name of Rainy Woods. However when the game was teased at Tokyo Game Show 2007, many people commented that it looked incredibly similar to the television series Twin Peaks. The game was then delayed and a lot of the elements in the game were either scrapped or entirely reworked to make it less similar to that of the TV show.

Deadly Premonition is in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Polarizing Survival-Horror Game" for it's review scores that were all across the board. Destructoid giving it a 10/10, commenting "it's pretty close to perfect" and IGN giving it a 2/10 and saying it's "awful in nearly every way".

Forrest Kaysen (The Sapling Salesman) is actually a recurring character from games directed by SWERY65. His role differs in each game and are actually not connected to each other. The only constant is his name and appearance. He originally appeared in Spy Fiction as a scientist, appears as a travelling sapling salesman in Deadly Premonition and is confirmed to be in the next SWERY 65 game, "D4." It is not currently known what his role will be in D4.

SWERY 65 (Hidetaka Suehiro) is the director of the game and is hidden or referenced in several area of the game;
• It's possible for a picture a picture of SWERY 65 skydiving to appear on television sets when turned on.
• Richard Dunn owns a bar called SWERY 65'. The license plate on his car also has this on it.
• A poster in the Greenvale Sheriff's Department shows SWERY 65 with a police dog.
• SWERY 65 has his own in-game trading card, which is Number 65 and encourages players to seek out aforementioned easter eggs of him in the game.

The cars driven by characters in the game each have their own unique license plate which references to some trait about them. For example, Richard Dunn's is "SWERY65", the bar that he owns. Nick Cormack's is "GR8COOK", referencing his cooking skills. The two Sheriff's Department vehicles have their own license plates as well. The SUV being "VIDGMES" (Video Games) and most notably the Patrol Cars "SPYFCTN", being Spy Fiction, a reference to the SWERY 65 title released on the PlayStation 2 in 2002. Spoiler:The license plate to George Woodman's car is "HESTHE1" to foreshadow George's sinister role later in the game's plot.

XSEED Games were once going to be the localization team and publisher for the game in North America. If they had continued localization, the game would have been released as "Killer's M.O.: The Red Seed Murders" since the developers were adamant about having "M.O." in the title.