The town where she was born is run by a militaristic governor who abuses his power, resulting in the miscarriage of justice and the poor living conditions of his subjects.

Almost immediately after signing with an agent, series star Tessie Santiago went to her first professional audition, to an open casting call that Fireworks Entertainment was conducting in a nationwide search for the lead role.

It led to several callbacks, with a final test screening in Los Angeles, California, and she won the lead role of Tessa Alvarado.

[5] Abramowitz met Peter Wingfield at a Highlander convention in November 1999 and offered him the parts of Doctor Helm or Captain Grisham.

[6] Director of photography Alwyn Kumst used Super 16mm film, which has a slightly smaller widescreen aspect ratio to 16:9.

"Destiny" was written by James Thorpe using the same sets for the Napoleonic Wars scenes that director Brian Grant was using to film "Vengeance" at the same time.

The Queen's horse is called Chico, his real name, mentioned only once in the entire series in the episode "The Pretender".

Bo Derek, an accomplished rider, chose the horse she would ride in the episode "The Witness" after putting two Palominos through their paces.

Anthony De Longis trained Tessie Santiago for two months in pre-production in California in the use of the rapier and dagger in the Spanish mysterious circle (Destreza) style,[18] and use of the whip.

He purposely created complicated and extended phrases of rapier and dagger choreography and taught them to Tessie Santiago, as he recognized that, in episodic television, time is always restricted.

There was a month off between training and cameras rolling in Spain with only a few days of prep before Santiago climbed to the top of a cliff to shoot her first scene in "Death to the Queen".

This was a two-on-one fight scene in 40 mph winds and with a little adjustment and fine-tuning to location and situation, Santiago was able to perform all her own swordplay confidently in this opening sequence.

The main character in Queen of Swords required great skill in horseback riding, swordsmanship, the bullwhip, and knife fighting.

[20] Natalia Guijarro Brasseur was originally hired to perform the role of the Queen in scenes requiring specific physical skills.

But during initial rehearsals for the series in Spain, before filming began, De Longis and producer Ken Gord recognized that Natalia Brasseur was not as talented with the sword as they needed.

When the producers found that they needed to use their limited American visas for other guest stars and crew members, De Longis and Brown were dismissed from the series before the first hiatus in filming.

The show's theme, a song titled "Behind the Mask", was written and composed by Spencer Proffer and Steve Plunkett and performed by José Feliciano.

The full unpublished English version is available on YouTube,[24] sung by José Feliciano with Spencer Proffer and Steve Plunkett, and a promotional video exists of José Feliciano in Spanish but again never released;[25] this was filmed by Tom Laurie at The Texas Hollywood Studios, Tabernas, Almería, Spain.

British actors played many Spanish parts: Valentine Pelka (Colonel Montoya), Ed Stoppard (Ambassador Ramirez), Grant Russell (Uncle Alejandro), Freddy Douglas (Ramon), Dan Fredenburgh (Tedora Selvera), Richard Clifford (The Viceroy), Steve Emerson (Padre Quinterra), Stephen Billington (Bernardo), Oliver Haden (Leonardo), Alex Hassell (Andreo Rey), Neil Newborn (Anton), Frank Barrie (Gonzalo), and Darrell D'Silva (Armando).

It was shown in a cropped 4/3 pan and scan format, although it had been filmed in wide-screen 16/9, with some profanities and scenes deleted as compared to transmissions in other countries.

[29] In August 2000, writer Linda S. Lukens sought a preliminary injunction to block the premiere of Queen of Swords unless she were given a "created by" credit, saying she had submitted a script of that name and a similar series treatment to ABC two decades earlier, and that both she and the show's executive producer, David Abramowitz, were both represented by the Broder/Kurland Agency, which was also named in the suit.

In October 2000, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered a halt to further broadcasts of the show unless Lukens received that credit.

Sony alleged copyright infringement and other claims, saying the series "copied protectable elements from [the] 'Zorro' character and 'Zorro' related works".