The series, produced by Don Fedderson and Fred Henry, explored the ways that sudden and unexpected wealth changed life, for better or for worse.

Viewers heard his voice, making observations and giving instructions; they generally saw only his arm as he reached for a cashier's check for one million dollars each week and handed it to Michael Anthony, his executive secretary.

The character's name was actually derived from the birthplaces of Millionaire producer Don Fedderson and his wife Tido: they were born in Beresford, South Dakota and Tipton, Missouri, respectively.

[citation needed] Invariably, The Millionaire began with a very brief opening theme fanfare behind the ascending title frame, followed by the camera's training directly upon Michael Anthony, played by veteran character actor and radio and television announcer Marvin Miller.

John Beresford Tipton, a fabulously wealthy and fascinating man, whose many hobbies included his habit of giving away one million dollars, tax free, each week—to persons he had never even met.

The only other recurring supporting actor was Roy Gordon as banker Andrew V. McMahon, on whose Gotham Trust Bank the anonymous Tipton's cashier's checks were drawn.

Fairly quickly, this was altered to having Anthony personally deliver the check (and outline the conditions of acceptance), rendering the McMahon character superfluous.

Saying that he wanted to set up a new kind of chess game, "with human beings," Tipton told Anthony: I'm going to choose a number of people for my chessmen, and give them each a million dollars.

The beneficiaries were not always poor but could be from any social class or occupation, from secretaries, salespeople, and construction workers to professionals like doctors, lawyers, even writers.

In one episode, "The Jerry Bell Story", Charles Bronson played a once-lonely writer who first invests some of his unexpected fortune in the surgery to restore his blind fiancée's (Georgeann Johnson) eyesight, only to disappear at the moment her bandages were removed, fearful she would reject him because of his plain looks.

Tipton visited the man as he was about to leave prison, though he was shown in his customary position: from behind, only his hand or arm and a brief glimpse of the top of his head in view.

It made its way around a few stunned townspeople before it finally reached its rightful owner, offering a short study of those people's reactions to instant wealth as well as the intended recipient's.

In the first episode, during which Tipton explained to Anthony his human chess match, the recipient—a young woman who worked as a sales clerk—actually returned the bulk of her unexpected fortune, saying it wasn't worth allowing her husband-to-be to feel like a "kept man."

Since each episode featured a different beneficiary, numerous guest stars appeared during The Millionaire's production, including Richard Anderson, Raymond Bailey, Joanna Barnes, Patricia Barry, Orson Bean, Jacques Bergerac, Charles Bronson, Edgar Buchanan, Carleton Carpenter, John Carradine, Marguerite Chapman, Chuck Connors, Mike Connors, Royal Dano, Richard Deacon, Angie Dickinson, Mason Alan Dinehart, Barbara Eden, Yvonne Lime Fedderson, Virginia Field, Dick Foran, Reginald Gardiner, Beverly Garland, Lisa Gaye, James Gleason, Don Gordon, Frank Gorshin, Peter Graves, George Grizzard, Harry Guardino, Alan Hale Jr., Barbara Hale, Murray Hamilton, Dennis Hopper, William Hopper, Frieda Inescort, David Janssen, DeForest Kelley, Jack Kelly, Robert Knapp, Tom Laughlin, Nan Leslie, Margaret Lindsay, Jack Lord, Celia Lovsky, Nora Marlowe, Frank McHugh, Joyce Meadows, Lee Meriwether, Martin Milner, Mary Tyler Moore, Joanna Moore, Agnes Moorehead, Rita Moreno, Vic Morrow, Lori Nelson, Kathy Nolan, Susan Oliver, Patrick O'Neal, Larry Pennell, Paul Picerni, Denver Pyle, John Smith, Kent Smith, Aaron Spelling, Olive Sturgess, Marshall Thompson, Regis Toomey, Ernest Truex, Robert Vaughn, Betty White, Grant Williams, and Dick York.

The Millionaire was parodied in a 1958 episode of The Jack Benny Program, in which Dennis Day became a Tipton beneficiary, with Marvin Miller as Michael Anthony delivering the unexpected gift.

Rod Serling, upset at this change, wrote an episode that season called "The Bard" about a hack television writer who was unable to come up with anything good until he inadvertently summoned the ghost of William Shakespeare.