Miami is a major television production center, and the most important city in the United States for Spanish language media. Telemundo has its headquarters in Miami and films 85% of its original programming in the city.

Vice City is described by video game producer Leslie Benzies as "a party town, all sun and sea and sex, but with that same dark edge underneath." One of the three original Grand Theft Auto cities, it is heavily based on Miami and easily distinguished from the others by its many beaches and palm trees.

In 2009, real estate developer Tony Goldman had the vision to make a mecca out of Wynwood's already present graffiti. He commissioned artists to create the Wynwood Walls, an outdoor exhibition of rotating street art. Today, the Wynwood Art District is one of the largest open-air street art installations in the world, and the Walls have expanded to include murals outside the neighborhood, including Outside the Walls, which features art covering entire buildings.

The Villa Paula in Little Haiti was constructed in 1926 to be the first Cuban consulate in Miami. When Consul General Don Domingo Milord's wife Paula died suddenly after a leg amputation, he buried her in the back garden. Ever since, visitors have heard piano music and smelled coffee (two of Paula's favorite things) and some have reported seeing a one-legged woman floating in the hallway.

The city is named after the Miami River, which derived its name from Lake Mayaimi, which in turn derived its name from a Native American tribe that lived around Lake Okeechobee until the 17th or 18th century.

Most of the Miami metropolitan area obtains its drinking water from the Biscayne Aquifer, a natural underground source of fresh water that extends from southern Palm Beach County to Florida Bay. Because the top part of the aquifer is the water table, and because it merges with the floor of Biscayne Bay and with the Atlantic Ocean, this aquifer is considered both unconfined and coastal, meaning it is at high risk of contamination without man-made interventions such as dam-like structures that control fresh and salt water levels in canals.

A historic hamlet filled with lush parks, sidewalk cafes and indie boutiques, Coconut Grove is a favorite bayfront destination. The neighborhood was first established in 1825 when the Cape Florida lighthouse went into operation and was manned by John Dubose. Dr. Horace P. Porter is credited for coming up with the name in 1873 when he rented a home there and established a post office which he named Coconut Grove.

About 40% of homes in Miami are built on floodplains and considered as flood-risk zones. In addition, Miami is at risk from climate change as rising global sea levels threaten to put parts of the city underwater. Real estate prices already reflect this new reality, with high elevation properties selling at a premium to low elevation housing.