History Trivia / MissionImpossible

* NamesTheSame: Dan Briggs is no relation to the Dan Briggs in ''Series/TheFelonySquad''.

* TheMerch: Record albums of the series[[note]]although ''actual music'' from the show, as opposed to re-recorded versions, would not be released until 1992[[/note]], as well as a few 'Young Reader' type books. Published by Whitman, ''The Money Explosion'' was particularly good. Near the end of the run, Creator/{{Paramount}} was considering the idea of ''MI'' branded tape recorders, but nothing came of the idea. There was a game for the NES released in time for the revival.
** Also published was a series of original novels, and a ComicBookAdaptation by Dell Comics.
* NonSingingVoice: Averted by Barbara Bain in "Illusion" (the three songs she sings here were written for the show, and can be heard on La-La Land's multi-disc set that came out in 2015), Creator/LesleyAnnWarren (who had musical experience before [and after] her stint on the series) in "Flip Side," Greg Morris in "Blues" and Lynda Day George in "Trapped." And by Lynn Kellogg, an actual professional singer, in "The Martyr."

** Sid Haig, for example, was in the show no fewer than nine times, ranging from "Driver #1" to TheDragon to the BigBad.
** Lee Meriwether guest starred as a kidnap victim in a Season 3 episode, then was one of the ''femme fatale'' team members in Season 4.

* AwardCategoryFraud: "The Seal" got Lalo Schifrin a Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition - even though a) the episode was almost completely tracked with music written for other episodes... and b) the only piece of original music in the episode was written by Jacques Urbont!

* NonSingingVoice: Averted by Barbara Bain in "Illusion" (the three songs she sings here were written for the show, and can be heard on La-La Land's multi-disc set that came out in 2015), Lesley Ann Warren (who had musical experience before [and after] her stint on the series) in "Flip Side," Greg Morris in "Blues" and Lynda Day George in "Trapped." And by Lynn Kellogg, an actual professional singer, in "The Martyr."

Works in this franchise with their own Trivia pages:

* ''Trivia/MissionImpossibleII''
* ''Trivia/MissionImpossibleIII''
* ''Trivia/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol''
* ''Trivia/MissionImpossibleRogueNation''
* ''Trivia/MissionImpossibleFallout''

!!For the original television series:

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!!For the theatrical films:

* ActorInspiredElement: The scene that takes place in a glass-walled restaurant with a big lobster tank in the middle and three huge fish tanks overhead was Creator/TomCruise's idea. There were 16 tons in all of the tanks and there was a concern that when they detonated, a lot of glass would fly around. Creator/BrianDePalma tried the sequence with a stuntman, but it did not look convincing and he asked Cruise to do it, despite the possibility that the actor could have drowned.
* AllStarCast: Unique for an American-driven film at the time, half of the star power beyond Tom Cruise is actually from the other side of the pond; Jean Reno, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Emmanuelle Beart were esteemed, well-known European actors making their American big-budget blockbuster debuts.
* DeletedScene: Initially, there was a sophisticated opening sequence that introduced a love triangle between Phelps, his wife and Ethan Hunt that was removed because it took the test audience "out of the genre", according to Creator/BrianDePalma.
* DisownedAdaptation: Fans of the original TV series strongly disliked the first film because it made [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] the villain. [[spoiler:Creator/PeterGraves was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen offered the part of Phelps in the movie]], but turned it down in disgust (not to mention how Phelps on screen became similar to Graves' past role as Price from ''Film/Stalag17'', who was also TheMole and the BigBad like Phelps in the movie, in which this dubious ActorAllusion displeases Graves). In addition, Creator/MartinLandau (Rollin Hand) and Greg Morris (Barney Collier) were also quite critical about the film making Phelps the villain, with Morris actually storming out of the movie theater in anger before the film actually ended.]]
* FakeNationality: Creator/JeanReno as Krieger.
* HostilityOnTheSet: There were rumours that Creator/TomCruise and Creator/BrianDePalma did not get along and they were fuelled by the director excusing himself at the last moment from scheduled media interviews before the film's theatrical release.
* LifeImitatesArt: Inspired by the film, a helicopter successfully flew through a tunnel in Brazil in 2006.
* MissingTrailerScene: A shot of Ethan and Claire kissing passionately is shown in the trailer (and indeed in the brief excerpts from the film at the start of the film itself) but doesn't feature within the movie.
* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/BrianDePalma said that one of the reasons why he agreed to direct the film was because he needed a commercial hit at that time. Amusingly, his last commercial hit was also a TV adaptation, ''Film/TheUntouchables''.
* NoStuntDouble: The filmmakers delivered the film on time and under budget with Creator/TomCruise doing most of his own stunts.
* PromotedFanboy:
** Creator/TomCruise was an avid fan of the TV series.
** [[Music/{{U2}} Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton]] were fans of the series and did their own version of the theme song.
* ReleaseDateChange: Reshoots, location conflicts in Prague, and complications with filming and visual effects made Paramount's proposed December 1995 release date unviable.
* UncreditedRole: Emilio Estevez is uncredited.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The movie obviously intended to be a "Mission Impossible about the new digital era", with its emphasis on computers, hacking, sensitive digital information and constant references to modems. Instead, the movie ironically traps itself in the 90s, with shots of Usenet, floppy disks, and massive laptops, things that the internet and computer technology left behind at almost light speed (plus that weirdly dated moment where a group of agents attempt to determine whether a disk had a tracking device in it or not by putting a digital thermometer on top of the exterior disk drive reading it).
** The novelization identifies the device not as a thermometer but as an RF meter, detecting if any radio waves are coming from the disk. But there's nothing in the movie to identify what the gadget is.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** According to Martin Landau, in an earlier treatment for the first film the original plan was to bring back the entire original cast of the TV series '''[[BackForTheDead just to kill them all off in the first act]]''', which was changed instead to wipe out the current team when the original cast members refused to come back. Considering how may fans reacted negatively to the change regarding [[spoiler: Phelps]] in the first movie, one can only imagine how they would have responded had this plot happened.
** Creator/GeorgeClooney was offered the part of Ethan Hunt but he turned down due to work in ''Film/OneFineDay''. Creator/NicolasCage, Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/MelGibson, Creator/JohnTravolta and Creator/BruceWillis were later considered for the part before Creator/TomCruise got the role.
** Creator/MichaelDouglas, Creator/AlPacino and Creator/RobertRedford were considered for Jim Phelps.
** The role of Claire was originally offered to Creator/JulietBinoche.
** Max was originally a man before Creator/VanessaRedgrave was cast.
** Music/AlanSilvestri was originally hired to score the film, and had written roughly twenty-three minutes of music before he was taken off. He recycled the material he had written and used it for the score to ''Film/{{Eraser}}''. Bootleg copies of his "Mission: Impossible" score are in circulation.
* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: The film went into pre-production without a script that the filmmakers wanted to use. Creator/BrianDePalma designed the action sequences but neither David Koepp nor Creator/RobertTowne were satisfied with the story that would make these sequences take place. Towne ended up helping organize a beginning, middle and end to hang story details on while De Palma and Koepp worked on the plot. Towne rewrote scenes literally between takes during filming.

** Martin Landau essayed double roles in the pilot and "Wheels."

* TheDanza: Subverted. Bruce Geller wrote Martin Landau's part with the actor in mind, going so far as to name the character "Martin Land" in the pilot script. Landau said he was honored, but requested the name be changed, which it was to "Rollin Hand". Played straight in "The Tram," with Victor French as Vic Hatcher (although even then it was nearly averted, as French replaced originally cast Keenan Wynn).

*** At least in the first season, Martin Landau often played (with similar amounts of make-up) the people Rollin Hand was called on to impersonate.

** Since ''M:I'' shared the Desilu/Creator/{{Paramount}} soundstages and some production personel with ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'', it should come as no surprise that Creator/WilliamShatner guest starred twice as a BigBad ("Encore" and "Cocaine" - sadly for ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fans, both came after Creator/LeonardNimoy's tenure as an IMF agent... although the latter episode did reunite him with Barbara Anderson, alias Lenore Karidian from "The Conscience Of The King") and Creator/GeorgeTakei as an IMF member ("The Carriers"). Creator/LeonardNimoy became an SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute of Martin Landau's character -- four years after Landau had turned down the role of Mr Spock for ''[[Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}} Star Trek]]'''s first pilot "The Cage" in 1965. Herb Solow was production manager for both shows. Ricardo Montalban (Khan Noonien Singh) played a season one BigBad, who was one of the only villains to be directly killed by the IMF team.

* DisownedAdaptation: Fans of the original TV series strongly disliked the first film because it made [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] the villain. [[spoiler:Creator/PeterGraves was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen offered the part of Phelps in the movie]], but turned it down in disgust (not to mention how Phelps on screen became similar to Graves' past role as Price from ''Film/Stalag17'', who was also TheMole and the BigBad like Phelps in the movie, in which this dubious ActorAllusion displeases Graves). In addition, Martin Landau (Rollin Hand) and Greg Morris (Barney Collier) were also quite critical about the film making Phelps the villain, with Morris actually storming out of the movie theater in anger before the film actually ended.]]

* CastingGag: The 80's sequel series starred Greg Morris's son (Phil Morris, perhaps best known as [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Jackie Chiles]]) as Barney Collier's son.
** Martin Landau turned down the role of Mr Spock on Star Trek to play Rollin Hand. When he left the show, Leonard Nimoy, the man who got the Spock role instead, took his place in the cast.

* LongRunnerCastTurnover: The show typically had a five-person cast. Only two members (Barney and Willy) were in every season. Jim was in six out of seven seasons. The next longest was Rollin and Cinnamon at three. And ''nobody'' was in every episode.

* DisownedAdaptation: Fans of the original TV series strongly disliked the first film because it made [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] the villain. [[spoiler:Creator/PeterGraves was offered the part of Phelps in the movie, but turned it down in disgust (not to mention how Phelps on screen became similar to Graves' past role as Price from ''Film/Stalag17'', who was also TheMole and the BigBad like Phelps in the movie, in which this dubious ActorAllusion displeases Graves). In addition, Martin Landau (Rollin Hand) and Greg Morris (Barney Collier) were also quite critical about the film making Phelps the villain, with Morris actually storming out of the movie theater in anger before the film actually ended.]]

** Peter Graves was also asked to reprise his role as Phelps, but turned it down [[spoiler:due to him being the villain.]]

* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/BrianDePalma said that one of the reasons why he agreed to direct the film was because he needed a commercial hit at that time.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: According to Martin Landau, in an earlier treatment for the first film the original plan was to bring back the entire original cast of the TV series '''[[BackForTheDead just to kill them all off in the first act]]''', which was changed instead to wipe out the current team when the original cast members refused to come back. Considering how may fans reacted negatively to the change regarding [[spoiler: Phelps]] in the first movie, one can only imagine how they would have responded had this plot happened.

* ActorAllusion:
** Ethan seems familiar with the [[Film/RiskyBusiness Drake Hotel in Chicago]].
** One of the codenames on the NOC list is [[Film/TopGun "Maverick"]].

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The first movie obviously intended to be a "Mission Impossible about the new digital era", with its emphasis on computers, hacking, sensitive digital information and constant references to modems. Instead, the movie ironically traps itself in the 90s, with shots of Usenet, floppy disks, and massive laptops, things that the internet and computer technology left behind at almost light speed (plus that weirdly dated moment where a group of agents attempt to determine whether a disk had a tracking device in it or not by putting a digital thermometer on top of the exterior disk drive reading it).

** Bruce Geller wanted ''Creator/HenryMancini'' to write the theme music (but because Mancini wouldn't get to keep the publishing rights, he said no).

* DisownedAdaptation: Fans of the original TV series strongly disliked the first film because it made [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] the villain. [[spoiler:Creator/PeterGraves was offered the part of Phelps in the movie, but turned it down in disgust (not to mention how Phelps on screen became similar to Graves' past role as Price from ''Film/Stalag17, who was also TheMole and the BigBad like Phelps in the movie, in which this dubious ActorAllusion displeases Graves). In addition, Martin Landau (Rollin Hand) and Greg Morris (Barney Collier) were also quite critical about the film making Phelps the villain, with Morris actually storming out of the movie theater in anger before the film actually ended.]]

* DisownedAdaptation: Fans of the original TV series strongly disliked the first film because it made [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] the villain. [[spoiler:Creator/PeterGraves was offered the part of Phelps in the movie, but turned it down in disgust (not to mention how Phelps on screen became similar to Graves' past role as [[spoiler:Price from ''Film/Stalag17, who was also TheMole and the BigBad like Phelps in the movie, in which this dubious ActorAllusion displeases Graves]]). In addition, Martin Landau (Rollin Hand) and Greg Morris (Barney Collier) were also quite critical about the film making Phelps the villain, with Morris actually storming out of the movie theater in anger before the film actually ended.]]

* DisownedAdaptation: Fans of the original TV series strongly disliked the first film because it made [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] the villain. [[spoiler:Creator/PeterGraves was offered the part of Phelps in the movie, but turned it down in disgust. In addition, Martin Landau (Rollin Hand) and Greg Morris (Barney Collier) were also quite critical about the film making Phelps the villain, with Morris actually storming out of the movie theater in anger before the film actually ended.]]

** The original concept was for the show to have a constantly rotating cast of specialists to be mixed and matched according to a particular episode's mission with Dan Briggs as the leader holding it all together. This was dropped in favor of having a core cast and the occasional guest team member and the only thing that remained of the original idea was having the main cast credits take the form of Briggs[=/=]Phelps flipping through a stack of dossiers and picking out the ones he needed.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Bruce Geller wanted ''Creator/HenryMancini'' to write the theme music (but because Mancini wouldn't get to keep the publishing rights, he said no).

* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: The film went into pre-production without a script that the filmmakers wanted to use. Creator/BrianDePalma designed the action sequences but neither David Koepp nor Robert Towne were satisfied with the story that would make these sequences take place. Towne ended up helping organize a beginning, middle and end to hang story details on while De Palma and Koepp worked on the plot. Towne rewrote scenes literally between takes during filming.