Dana Carvey was a finalist for host. He pulled his name from consideration when he was selected for Saturday Night Live (1975).
The creators wanted the show to be a hybrid of Beat the Clock (1979) and Jeopardy! (1984). They didn't want the contestants to feel humiliated or stupid if they didn't know the answer to a question, so they threw in the concept of doing stunts in place of answering the question. Slime and messiness were added due to the popularity of You Can't Do That on Television (1979), Nickelodeon's most popular program at the time.
The show was created when Nabisco asked Nickelodeon for a show that would be a fit for them to advertise their brands, such as Oreo and Fig Newton. They agreed that a game show would be the best fit. Nabisco dropped out of the process early on, but the network continued with the idea.
This was Nickelodeon's first program to be created and produced in-house.
Reebok was a major sponsor. Every contestant and crew member, including host Marc Summers, wore a pair of Reeboks. The crew wore gray Double Dare T-shirts in the same design as those provided to the contestants.