Produced by Republic Pictures and written by Albert DeMond, Basil Dickey, Jesse Duffy, and Sol Shor, it was the last serial directed by Witney.

The serial's titular villain, the Crimson Ghost, has become a pop-culture icon due to the punk rock band Misfits having adapted his skull-like visage into their iconography.

Chambers informs his fellow professors—Richards, Anderson, Van Wyck, Maxwell, and Parker—that a duplicate Cyclotrode is located in a bonded warehouse.

Back in his mansion hideout, the Ghost relieves Chambers of his influence and tells him to make a larger, more powerful Cyclotrode that could cripple entire cities.

Richards finds his way to the lair and almost steps into the path of the death ray; Chambers leaps forward to stop him and is killed by the weapon.

At the next faculty meeting, Richards announces that the wreckage of the Ghost's laboratory equipment has been hauled to a warehouse and will be checked for fingerprints.

When the Crimson Ghost was unmasked in the twelfth and final chapter, he proved to be yet another actor entirely, Joseph Forte, who played Professor Parker.

His first was The Painted Stallion in 1937 and prior to this production had temporarily left the serial business to serve in World War II.

[1] Hans J. Wollstein of AllMovie gave The Crimson Ghost a rating of three out of five stars, calling it "one of the most entertaining serials to be released by Republic Pictures".

[9] Author William C. Cline praised the serial's eponymous antagonist as "a most striking and visually fascinating villain".

[10] Similarly, author Roy Kinnard praised the design of the Crimson Ghost's costume, and called the character "one of the single greatest menaces in serial history.

The Misfits first made use of the character's likeness in a flyer promoting one of their gigs on March 28, 1979 at Max's Kansas City, after vocalist Glenn Danzig and bassist Jerry Only came across a picture of the Crimson Ghost while searching for images to silkscreen on T-shirts.

[12] The band later incorporated an image of the Ghost on the cover artwork of their single "Horror Business", first released on June 26, 1979.

[13][14] The Crimson Ghost became a recognizable mascot and logo for the band throughout their career,[6] and has become somewhat of a pop culture icon as a result.