The silent protagonist (player character) Isaac Clarke is named after two science-fiction writers, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
Prolific comic book writer Warren Ellis was involved in the early stages of production, and some of the concepts from this game - like the planet-cracking - seem to be typical of his stories, which often involve fictional but plausible science.
Horror movie director Dario Argento lent his voice as Doctor Kyne in the Italian Version of 'Dead Space'.
This game was reportedly banned in China and Japan because of the game's excessive gory violence involving very frequent dismemberments that the player character can perform on the enemies. However, it has since been confirmed that this was a marketing ploy, and that the game was not banned in any country.
This game is dedicated to the German public relation of marketing staff Christian Teichmann, who passed away before this game was released.