 This story was originally shot as four episodes, the third and fourth episodes were condensed into a single episode at the behest of BBC Head of Serials Donald Wilson just two weeks before it was transmitted. This decision though would have ramifications for this season when when the producers were left with a left-over episode block. Rather than producing a single-episode stand-alone story or extend any of the planned serials, "Mission to the Unknown" was commissioned to serve as a prelude to "The Daleks' Master Plan" without the participation of any of the regular cast.
This story was originally filmed as part of the first season bloc. Along with "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", these stories were held over to Season Two.
Fred Ferris, who played policeman Bert Rowse, was a popular Liverpudlian comedian.
This story is the debut of the most prolific of Doctor Who's incidental music composers, Dudley Simpson. He would continue to work on the show periodically until the end of the Season Seventeen in 1979.
Interestingly there is no noise either inside or outside the TARDIS as it arrives at the start of the story and leaves at the end.
This is the first time in the show that The Doctor is shrunk. He would be shrunk again in "Carnival of Monsters", "The Invisible Enemy" (although on this occasion it is merely a clone of himself and his current companion that is actually regressed in size), "The Armageddon Factor" and "Logopolis".
The Target Books novelisation of this story, written by Terrance Dicks and published in January 1990, was the final story of the First Doctor's era to be novelised. This novel also reinstated much of the material cut to make the televised story into three episodes.
This story was released on VHS in 2001; it was the first commercially-released story to receive the VidFIRE process.
This story was released on DVD in August 2012. Included with this release are full-length reconstructions of the original episodes three and four based on the original scripts before they were condensed into the single broadcasted episode.
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The Firsts:
The first story of Season Two (even though it was recorded as part of Season One but held back).
The first Doctor Who story to be reduced from four episodes to three. The last two episodes were condensed into a single episode.
The first time in the show that The Doctor is shrunk in size.
The first story other than the initial episode to be set in modern times.
The first Doctor Who story to be written by Louis Marks.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Douglas Camfield.
Dudley Simpson's first involvement in the show providing the incidental music.
The first Doctor Who story not to be recorded at Lime Grove.
The Target Books novelisation of this story, published in January 1990, was the final story of the First Doctor's era to be novelised.
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(Position = 124 out of 159)
(Position = 163 out of 200)
