Dunn was born in 1946 in Manchester, England. He worked at Mather & Platt at their Newton Heath plant where he served an indentured apprenticeship and subsequently became a journeyman machinist. In 1969 Dunn immigrated to the United States after being recruited by the Altamil Corporation to work at aerospace manufacturing company, Twigg Industries, in Martinsville, Indiana. While employed as a toolmaker at Rettig Engineering in Indianapolis, Dunn became involved in the development and implementation of high powered lasers for processing gas-turbine and aerospace parts and assemblies. He was the manager of Laser Robotics Machining, a contract job-shop which served the aerospace industry. In 1986 he was recruited by gas turbine/aerospace manufacturing company, Danville Metal Stamping, where he has worked in the position of Project Engineer, Laser Operations Manager and Human Resource Manager.

He is a master craftsman and skilled machinist. Dunn lives with his wife Jeanne and children in Danville, Illinois.

Dunn's book The Giza Power Plant was published in 1998 by Inner Traditions - Bear & Company. In it, Dunn argues that based on his measurements of Egyptian monuments, ancient stonecutting achieved an accuracy similar to that of modern eyeglass lenses and complex machined forms, difficult or impossible to duplicate today.

Dunn has published many magazine articles on his hypotheses concerning ancient technology, including an August 1984 article "Advanced Machining in Ancient Egypt" in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine.

He wrote the foreword to Edward F. Malkowski's 2007 publication The Spiritual Technology of Ancient Egypt: Sacred Science and the Mystery of Consciousness.

He also produced the DVD documentaries The Giza Power Plant and Ancient Wisdom: Christopher Dunn: Ancient Power Plants And Advanced Technology: Egypt In The New Millennium.

Dunn's work has been referenced and quoted in books such as Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods, Colin Wilson's From Atlantis to the Sphinx, and Joseph P. Farrell's Giza Death Star Trilogy.

Dunn has appeared in television programs and on talk radio to promote his ideas.