[4] The most famous recording of the song was made by Johnny Rivers for the opening titles of the American broadcast of the British spy series Danger Man, which aired in the U.S. as Secret Agent from 1964 to 1966.

Sloan, the American television network that licensed Danger Man, CBS, solicited publishers to contribute a 15-second piece of music for the opening of the U.S. show to replace the small section of the British theme, an instrumental by Edwin Astley entitled "High Wire", which started each episode.

The full version of "High Wire", which plays over the episode credits following the "Secret Agent" titles, was retained.

New wave band Devo recorded a version of "Secret Agent Man" in 1974, which was featured in their 1976 short film The Truth About De-Evolution.

[21] They re-recorded the song in 1979 for their second studio album, Duty Now for the Future, with a heavily modified arrangement and significantly altered lyrics sung by guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh.