You mean Critical Hits or instant kill animations?
Criticals simply do more damage than a regular attack, usually a multiplied amount, and are usually triggered by a perk. And as of right now, instant kill animations might as well be random though some speculate they happen more with power attacks.
As for stealth kill animations, they happen far more often when only using 1 dagger, that is, Ive yet to see any stealth kill animation with 2 daggers and this is my 2nd playthrough with 100 Sneak.