"The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s" original working title was "Solo," and its lead character was named for a spy with a minor role in one of Ian Fleming's early Bond novels. U.N.C.L.E. producer Norman Felton had a handshake agreement with Fleming to use the name and to develop "Solo" as a TV spy series. But the Bond film franchise had other ideas, reneged on the agreement on Fleming's behalf, and sued, forcing the title change. Felton prevailed only in retaining the character's name: Napoleon Solo.
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While Solo is on the phone at the airport, the same female extra passes him twice. Both times, she's wearing the same green dress, but the second time, her hair is re-styled and she's carrying a different suitcase. See more...
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"The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s" original working title was "Solo," and its lead character was named for a spy with a minor role in one of Ian Fleming's early Bond novels. U.N.C.L.E. producer Norman Felton had a handshake agreement with Fleming to use the name and to develop "Solo" as a TV spy series. But the Bond film franchise had other ideas, reneged on the agreement on Fleming's behalf, and sued, forcing the title change. Felton prevailed only in retaining the character's name: Napoleon Solo.
U.N.C.L.E. had cell phones 30 years before they were invented in the real world. Even before Star Trek, U.N.C.L.E. had "communicators" that utilized the brand new technology of the recently launched TelStar communications satellite. The communicators were first disguised as cigarette packs and cases, but later became spiffy pocket pens that morphed into satellite radios when the cap was upended. U.N.C.L.E.'s spies then "phoned home" with the request to "Open Channel D."
Thrush, U.N.C.L.E.'s nemesis organization, was an international bad-guy conglomerate with the single-minded goal of taking over the world. Though "Thrush" was never an acronym on the show itself, U.N.C.L.E. novelist David McDaniel assigned it a meaning that became fan canon: he called it the Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. That pretty much described Thrush's nefarious ambitions to a T.
Though U.N.C.L.E. was entirely fictive, thousands of fans wrote NBC and MGM in the 60s begging to join up. Might have had something to do with the bogus disclaimer at the end of every episode: "We wish to thank the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, without whose assistance this program would not be possible." So many requests came in that MGM printed U.N.C.L.E. membership cards and sent them to the letter writers.
U.N.C.L.E. stood for the United Network Command for Law & Enforcement. The original intent was that the U.N. portion of its name should stand for United Nations, until it was learned that the real U.N. doesn't permit its name to be used as part of any commercial enterprise. So the more nebulous term "Network" was used instead.
The correct Russian spelling of Illya's name should be "Ilya," with only one L. But series creator Sam Rolfe chose the name as an homage to Illya, the Greek character in Never on Sunday, and retained the Greek spelling. "Kuryakin" came from the Greek word for Sunday, "Kyriaki."
The Project Strigas Affair (series 1)
This episode, shot in 1964, featured guest stars William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. It marked the first time the future Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock ever appeared on screen together.
The Giuoco Piano Affair (series 1)
Four of the guests at Marion's party are played by U.N.C.L.E. production staff in cameo roles. Creator-producer Norman Felton is the man playing chess, producer Sam Rolfe is the dancing Texan, associate producer/writer Joseph Calvelli is the writer typing at the coffee table, and director Richard Donner is the drunk in the extremely loud sport coat.
The Arabian Affair (series 2)
David McCallum recalls that in this episode, when Illya was supposed to drive a fork lift down a corridor and stop, he accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake, crashed through a wall and demolished the set. While he and Robert Vaughn found it a source of much hilarity, MGM's "bean counters" were reportedly not at all amused.
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