- Accidentally-Correct Writing: An interview with cast and crew revealed a story that the shows writers were once called into the CIA to find out where they were getting ideas for the show's gadgets. Apparently, a few items in the series were suspiciously close to actual tools the CIA was developing. The shoe phone is on display in the CIA's museum, showing at least the agency (eventually) had a sense of humor about it.
- Actor-Shared Background: 99 was a high fashion model before she joined CONTROL. Barbara Feldon worked as a model before getting her break as an actress.
- The Cast Showoff: Edward Platt, who was a singer with Paul Whiteman's orchestra before becoming an actor, sings in one episode.
- Channel Hop:
- Mel Brooks and Buck Henry originally pitched the show to ABC, with the intention that Tom Poston play Maxwell Smart. ABC, however, declined. NBC then picked up the show, but requested that Don Adams be cast as Maxwell Smart as he was already under contract with the network. ABC would later green light another show from the same production company, Supermarket Sweep.
- Years later, the copyright to the show itself ended up at HBO (who also produced the 1995 Fox revival), since Talent Associates was sold to Time-Life Films in the mid-1970s, and HBO inherited the T-L library after the studio's 1981 shutdown.
- Creator Backlash: Buck Henry was not happy about the credit "Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry," since it implied that his writing contributions were not equal to Brooks', which wasn't the case; Brooks got the billing due to being a bigger name at the time.
- Directed by Cast Member: Don Adams directed 13 episodes.
- Follow the Leader: Mel Brooks claimed that the series was inspired by the success of James Bond and The Pink Panther.
- Friendship on the Set: Subverted - although Don Adams and Barbara Feldon got along fine making the original series, it was strictly business - cordial but professional. It was only when making the revival telefilm in The '80s that the two became closer and remained good friends until Adams died.
- Irony as She Is Cast: In contrast to his role as Larrabee, who was often being portrayed as even more bumbling than Max, Robert Karvelas actually worked as a stockbroker before he became an actor, a job that obviously requires a lot of book smarts.
- Life Imitates Art: "Hoo Done It" is set in the Tuwana Conrad Hotel, named after Conrad Milton, a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Conrad Hilton. In 1985, Hilton Hotels would open the Conrad Hotels chain in order to get around their inability to use the Hilton trademark outside the United States due to a previous spin-off of the international brand.
- Promoted to Opening Titles: Edward Platt, starting with season 2.
- Real-Life Relative: Robert Karvelas, who played Larrabee, was Don Adams' cousin. Don's brother Dick Yarmy guest-starred several times on the series.
- Referenced by...: In Dancing Trees, Nicky suggests that Martha wear make-up. Martha says, "Code Name 99 wore lipstick. She used to talk to it." Later, Nicky explains to Detective Velez that Martha and her mom used to watch Get Smart together.
- Star-Making Role: For Don Adams.
- Technology Marches On: The very first scene of the black-and-white pilot takes place in a crowded theater where Max is sitting in the audience and begins with a narrator explaining how important it is for an agent like Max to remain inconspicuous and not blow his cover by drawing attention to himself... right before Max's shoe phone rings. In such an environment in the 1960s, a phone ringing right in the audience would certainly have drawn a lot of confused stares, but after 2000, you'd come across as rude but not the least bit suspicious.
- Throw It In!: Don Adams and guest star Don Rickles did so much ad libbing during production of "The Little Black Book" that the episode, written as a one-parter, became a two-parter.
- Written by Cast Member: Don Adams wrote two episodes, while David Ketcham, who played Agent 13, wrote an episode.
- Approval of God: Zig-zagged. Mel Brooks gave his blessing for the film and loved Steve Carell's performance, but still said he couldn't hold a candle to Don Adams.
- The Danza: Dalip, Siegfried's brute, is played by Dalip Singh — known as The Great Khali.
- Development Hell: A sequel was greenlit shortly after release in 2008, and that was basically the last mention of such. An 2019 interview
suggested the project was effectively canceled for good. - Dyeing for Your Art: Steve Carell worked out extensively for this film. This resulted in a gag in The Office (US) where Michael wears a too-tight shirt to show off how slim Carell had become.
- I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Alan Arkin, who plays The Chief, shares a scene with James Caan, who plays the President. Both actors previously portrayed the titular buddy-cop duo in the 1974 car chase comedy classic Freebie and the Bean.
- Role Reprise: The Mexican Spanish dub brought back Jorge Arvizu, who had voiced Max in the classic series.
- Throw It In!: Anne Hathaway ad-libbed the scene where Agent 99 grills Max on what he would do if confronted by a gun-wielding assassin.
Misc. Trivia
- According to AMC's Story Notes, Mel Brooks contributed a few jokes to the film. However they failed to mention which jokes exactly.
