Peggy's husband was a police officer that was killed in the line of duty.
In the first season, Mannix worked for a company named Intertech. While the company relied on high-tech methods to solve crimes, Mannix used old-fashioned smarts & intuition. After the first season, the producers decided to dump the "new vs. old" conflict and put Mannix into private practice.
During the 1972-73 season Mannix's car (a 1973 Plymouth Cuda convertible) were actually three 1971 models updated (by changing the grill/headlights, hood, and taillights panel) to look like a 1973 Cuda, as Plymouth no longer made the Cuda as a convertible, and driving a convertible had been a Mannix trademark since the show began.Mannix began to drive the Challenger which also went out of production.
Star Mike Connors complained that this show was not very good at showing the consequences of violence. He said Joe Mannix would get thrown down a flight of stairs in one scene and then appear without a scratch in the next.
An episode of the series Diagnosis Murder called "Hard-Boiled Murder" (episode # 4.17), was actually a sequel to the "Little Girl Lost" (episode # 7.4) episode of this series. Many of the same guest stars appeared in both episodes.
Mannix was of Armenian descent and spoke fluent Armenian and French. In the opening credits, the screen that says "Mike Connors is" features the colors (red, blue, orange) and shape (3 rectangles) of the Armenian flag.
Over the eight seasons of the series, Mannix was knocked unconscious 55 times and shot 17 times.
The character of Lew Wickersham was modeled after Lew Wasserman, the head of MCA Corp.
In the beginning Mannix drove a customized Oldsmobile Tornardo convertible which was done by Barris Custom Cars.
Mike Connors reprised his role as Mannix on the 'Diagnosis: Murder' episode Hard-Boiled Murder. It was a sequel to the Mannix episode Little Girl Lost. Pernell Roberts and Julie Adams, who appeared as guest stars in the Mannix episode, also reprise their original roles on Diagnosis: Murder.
The olive-colored books with black and red trim seen behind Mannix' and occasionally behind Peggy's desks are actually law books often seen in attorney's offices, which contain sequential reported appeals court decisions. As it would be unlikely for a real-life private investigator to have law books in his office, they were probably chosen simply because they were an attractive way to fill up the bookshelves, and because they could be acquired somewhat inexpensively from a bookstore or a retiring attorney.
John Colicos' character is supposed to drive Mannix to the airport control tower in the desert following the scene at the Palm Springs aerial tramway. According to Mike Connors in an interview that he and Joseph Campanella provided for the new DVD set, Colicos, who had theretofore lived in New York City, confessed that he had never driven a car. Connors covered for him by holding the steering wheel with one hand below the camera range and putting his left foot on the gas - which fitted into the sequence, when Mannix is supposed to hit the gas at the last minute as they approach the tower and race the car toward it.
According to Mike Connors, he suffered two injuries during the filming of the pilot that continued to give him discomfort for the rest of his life. In the sequence on the golf course, during one of the shots when the helicopter plunged toward him, he threw himself to the ground and dislocated his right shoulder on a hill he hadn't realized was there. And in the fight sequence in the palm grove with Lloyd Nolan's henchman, he broke his left wrist when throwing a punch. Connors slipped in the muddy water and hit harder than he had intended, and his punch landed on a steel back brace that he had not known the other actor was wearing. In subsequent shots, Connors wore a soft cast on that wrist, and kept his left hand out of camera range.
The screen in the opening credits (on this and all subsequent episodes) that says "Mike Connors is" shows the colors of the Armenian flag - red, blue & orange, from top to bottom. Mike Connors of course is Armenian, and his real name is Krikor Ohanian.
Mannix stages a meeting with Irina at a coffee house called the Bad Scene, where Neil Diamond is performing "The Boat That I Row", "Raisin' Caine" and, in a later scene, "Solitary Man". "Raisin' Caine", which is interrupted by a fight and finds Neil Diamond asking Mannix if he can finish his show, has not yet appeared on any Neil Diamond record.
The creators of the show, Richard Levinson and William Link, wanted the character of Mannix never to have a first name (similar to another of their creations, Columbo, who never did acquire a first name). By the time the show got into production, however, Levinson and Link had moved onto other projects, and Mannix had a first initial, "J.," in "Mannix" (1967) {The Name Is Mannix (#1.1)}. In this episode he actually uses his first name, "Joe," for the first time.
This is the first episode in which Mannix's Armenian heritage is revealed.
This has the first use of Armenian language in the series. Not just a passing word, but an extended sequence without subtitles that delighted Armenians but must have baffled the general public. In the scene, Mannix speaks to Aram the salesman and then J.D. Arikonian the rug merchant.
This episode is the source of two shots used in the opening credits during subsequent seasons: one briefly shows Mannix driving a dune buggy, and the other (as the letters are spelling out his name over six different shots) depicting him diving to his left onto a sand dune, rolling over, and coming back up with his gun pointed at an assailant.
After the teaser and the opening titles, the first scene opens on a western movie set and depicts an extended fist fight that begins in a bar and tumbles out into the street. At the end of the fight, we're shown that it is, indeed, a movie set and not a western. The uncredited director of the western fight scene, who shares a few words with Joe Mannix, is played by Bruce Geller. Geller was the creator of "Mission: Impossible" and the producer of this season of "Mannix"; this is one of only two on-screen acting appearances by Geller. (His only credited screen acting role was in the 1975 TV movie "Fear on Trial," in which he played his own father, Judge Abraham Geller, in a landmark court case.)
The exteriors of the Mexican rehabilitation facility used in this episode are the same as the exteriors of the Swiss resort depicted in the fourth season episode _"Mission: Impossible" (1970) {My Friend, My Enemy (#5.6)}_. Both "Mannix" and "Mission: Impossible" were originally produced by Desilu, which was acquired by Paramount.
This was the last episode of the series to be produced by Desilu Productions.
This episode was the first of the series to be produced by Paramount Television.
The exterior shots - both front and back - of what is supposed to be the Puccis' mansion were filed at 380 South San Rafael Ave., Pasadena, California - the same house used as the exterior of Wayne Manor in the "Batman" series, and which also turned up in episodes of Paramount's sister series "Mission: Impossible," including the second season episode "Charity" and the sixth season episode "The Visitors."
Ward Wood, who would go on to appear more than 50 times during the run of the series as "Lt. Art Malcolm," makes his debut in this episode. Ironically, although his character already is acquainted with Mannix, this is his only appearance playing a different character, albeit still a police officer ("Lt. Collins").
The highly revealing pink costume with a shiny trim that Leslie Parrish's character, Linda Marley, wears during the teaser (when she is posing for a sculptor but also is observed through a telescope by the characters played by Paul Mantee and William Windom) is the same outfit she wore during the latter part of "Star Trek" (1966) {Who Mourns for Adonais? (#2.2)}. Both "Mannix" and "Star Trek" were produced by Desilu, which later was acquired by Paramount, and both episodes were made during the 1967-68 television season.
The short clip of Gail Fisher (as Mannix' secretary, Peggy) used in the opening credits is taken from a scene near the end of this episode, when she walks into Mannix' office to announce that she's found the address for Harvey Templeton (Lee Bergere).
This episode is the source of several scenes used in the opening credits of the show - the sequence where a race car engulfed in flames goes over an embankment, and a three-part shot shown on a split-screen, of Mannix driving a race car along with scenes of the vehicles during the race.
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