[1] In both portrayals MacGyver is shown to possess a genius-level intellect, proficiency in multiple languages, superb engineering skills, excellent knowledge of applied physics, military training in bomb disposal techniques, and a preference for non-lethal resolutions to conflicts.

[3] MacGyver appears to have a strong connection with children, filling the role of "big brother" at the series' inception.

MacGyver demonstrates mood congruence, exhibiting grief in tragedy, fear in peril, and pain in suffering.

Other items he often has on hand are: an ID card, a Timex Camper watch, strike-anywhere matches, a few paper clips, chewing gum, and a flashlight.

[12] MacGyver is proficient in Russian, German, French, Italian, Spanish,[13] and American Sign Language, and knows how to use International maritime signal flags and Morse code.

[23] At about 12 years of age, MacGyver had a traumatic experience of the accidental shooting death of a friend by a bullet from a falling gun.

[26] After graduating from college he turned down an offer to work at the nearby nuclear power plant and it is later revealed that he briefly served during the Vietnam War in a bomb-defusing team.

[27] Five years before the start of the series, MacGyver worked as a "Hell Fighter," fighting oil well fires in Sumatra, Indonesia.

[29] Eventually he moved to Los Angeles where he held numerous jobs until he accidentally meets Peter Thornton, an agent at the Department of External Services (DXS).

[30] In the first episode of Season 2, Thornton takes a job as Director of Operations at the Phoenix Foundation,[31] and MacGyver follows, where he is hired as a "sort of troubleshooter.

After discovering and reuniting with Sean, MacGyver decides to resign from the Foundation in order to spend time with his son.

In the first one (MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis), MacGyver teams up with his former college archaeology instructor, Professor Atticus (Brian Blessed), to help him prove his theories about ancient Atlantis while dodging the bullets of genocidal Yugoslav troops, a Greek revolutionary and a ruthless treasure hunter.

Soon thereafter (MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday), he investigates the murder of a friend in Britain, and eventually traces it to an unscrupulous businessman who sells nuclear arms research for profit.

No mention in either special is made of Pete Thornton, Jack Dalton, MacGyver's son Sean or any of the show's other regulars.

Trained as an EOD technician for the Army, Mac prefers to use non-lethal means to stop his enemies, and refuses to carry a gun, though if necessary he will resort to lethal measures.

While not an expert in biology or medicine, MacGyver is shown to be an efficient field medic and knowledgeable in crime scene techniques and DNA sequencing procedures.

[47] Though not an expert fighter, he is shown to be able to temporarily hold off multiple enemies in hand-to-hand combat, typically long enough for him to figure out a way to end the conflict using his adaptation and improvisational skills.

He left MIT to join the Army because he wanted to make an actual difference in people's lives rather than thinking about theoretical problems, being trained as an EOD technician and spending three years in Afghanistan.

[54] After leaving the Army, MacGyver was hired by the Department of External Services, a government clandestine operation using the guise of a think tank.