It is thought to have founded by Salarsi, a Rajput raja of Mahmud Ghajnavi's days, who came here to bathe in the Ganges in order to get rid of his leprosy. Developing a likening for this place, he built a fort here and settled down. Dasna is just 10 km east of the district headquarters, Ghaziabad.

Dasna derives its name after an incident in which a man, while digging for the foundation of the fort, got bitten by a snake ('Dasna’ in Sanskrit means 'snake bite').

Nearest international airport is at New Delhi. Dasna Railway Station is situated on the Ghaziabad-Moradabad branch line of the Northern Railways (It falls within the limits of the adjoining village of Masuri). National Highway 24 passes near Dasna.