Developed at a time when the television Western was losing ground to the spy genre, this show was conceived by its creator, Michael Garrison, as "James Bond on horseback.

The combination of the Victorian era time-frame and the use of Vernean technology has led several steampunk web sites to cite the show as a pioneering influence on the genre.

James West had served as an intelligence and cavalry officer in the American Civil War (1861–1865) on Grant's staff;[9] his "cover", at least in the pilot episode, is that of "a dandy, a high-roller from the East".

The show incorporated classic Western elements with an espionage thriller, science fiction/alternate history ideas (in a vein similar to what would later be called steampunk), in one case horror ("The Night of the Man Eating House") and humor.

Martin told Percy Shain of the Boston Globe, "In the three years of the show, I have run a wider gamut than even those acknowledged masters of disguise, Paul Muni and Lon Chaney.

"[13] A few weeks later, after completing "The Night of Fire and Brimstone", Martin suffered a heart attack on August 17, 1968 (this was exactly two years after the show's creator, Michael Garrison, died).

Although several actors appeared in different villainous roles, only one other character had a second encounter with West and Gordon: Count Manzeppi, played flamboyantly by Victor Buono.

Other villains were portrayed by Ed Asner, Christopher Cary, Yvonne Craig, Robert Duvall, Anthony Eisley, Boris Karloff, Harvey Korman, Martin Landau, Delphi Lawrence, Robert Loggia, Ida Lupino, Burgess Meredith, Ricardo Montalbán, Leslie Nielsen, Ramon Novarro, Carroll O'Connor, Susan Oliver, Percy Rodrigues, Jo Van Fleet, Sam Wanamaker, William Windom, and H. M. Wynant.

While the show's writers created their fair share of villains, they often started with the nefarious, stylized and sometimes anachronistic inventions of these madmen (or madwomen) and then wrote the episodes around the devices.

"[19] Ralston said he then created the Civil War characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the pilot script that was the basis for the television series.

"[26] On August 17, 1966, however, during production of the new season's ninth episode, "The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse", Garrison fell down a flight of stairs in his home, fractured his skull and died.

Beginning in 1971, MTM Enterprises (headed by actress Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker) became the Studio Center's primary tenant.

The Inyo appears in numerous films including High, Wide, and Handsome (1938), Union Pacific (1939), the Marx Brothers' Go West (1940), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Red River (1948), Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) and McLintock!

Session musicians who played on the theme were Tommy Morgan (harmonica); Bud Shank, Ronnie Lang, Plas Johnson and Gene Cipriano (woodwinds); Vince DeRosa and Henry Sigismonti (French horns); Uan Rasey, Ollie Mitchell and Tony Terran (trumpets); Dick Nash, Lloyd Ulyate, Chauncey Welsch and Kenny Shroyer (trombones); Tommy Tedesco and Bill Pitman (guitars); Carol Kaye (Fender bass); Joe Porcaro (brushes) and Gene Estes, Larry Bunker and Emil Richards (timpani, percussion).

Created by Michael Garrison Productions and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, it was directed by Isadore "Friz" Freleng and animated by Ken Mundie,[33] who designed the titles for the film The Great Race and the TV series Secret Agent, I Spy, Rawhide and Death Valley Days.

The hero looked more like a traditional cowboy than either West or Gordon, and from each corner panel encountered cliché western characters and situations that never appeared in the show.

In season 2 (the first in color) the scenes dissolved to tinted stills; from "The Night of the Flying Pie Plate" on, however, the panels were home to Warhol-like serigraphs of the freeze-frames.

Often, George would start a stunt, such as a high fall or a dive through a window, then land behind boxes or off-camera where Conrad was hidden and waiting to seamlessly complete the action.

Most particularly stay away from gratuitous ad-libs, such as slaps, pointing of firearms or other weapons at characters (especially in close quarters), kicks and the use of furniture and other objects in fight scenes."

James West rarely wears a gun in these episodes and rather than the usual fisticuffs, fight sequences involved tossing, tackling or body blocking the villains.

The most caustic of the commissioners, Rep. Hale Boggs (D-Louisiana), decried what he called "the Saturday morning theme of children's cartoon shows" that permit "the good guy to do anything in the name of justice."

[40] Three months later, in March 1969, Sen. John O. Pastore (D-Rhode Island) called the same network presidents before his Senate communications subcommittee for a public scolding on the same subject.

Cancellation came mainly because CBS officials were concerned about the criticism over televised violence and to a lesser degree because Robert Conrad had grown slightly weary of the role of James West.

In October 1973, the Los Angeles-based National Association for Better Broadcasting (NABB) reached a landmark agreement with KTTV, a local station, to purge 42 violent cartoon programs, including Mighty Mouse, Magilla Gorilla, Speed Racer and Gigantor.

Additionally, the NABB cited 81 syndicated live-action shows that "may have a detrimental influence on some children who are exposed to such programming without parental guidance or perspective" when they are telecast before 8:30 p.m.

In Los Angeles, such shows opened with a cautionary announcement: "Parents — we wish to advise that because of violence or other possible harmful elements, certain portions of the following program may not be suitable for young children."

No longer a dwarf, he was portrayed as a legless double amputee confined to a steam-powered wheelchair (similar to that employed by the villain in the episode "The Night of the Brain").

In 1990, Millennium Publications produced a four-issue comic book miniseries ("The Night of the Iron Tyrants") scripted by Mark Ellis with art by Darryl Banks.

A review from the Mile High Comics site states: "This mini-series perfectly captures the fun mixture of western and spy action that marked the ground-breaking 1960s TV series."

On July 11, 2017, La-La Land Records released a limited edition 4-disc set of music from the series, featuring Richard Markowitz's theme, episode scores by Markowitz, Robert Drasnin, Dave Grusin, Richard Shores, Harry Geller, Walter Scharf, Jack Pleis and Fred Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin's unused theme music.