Producer William Dozier cast Adam West as Batman after seeing him perform as a James Bond-like spy in a Nestlé Quik commercial; Lyle Waggoner also screen-tested but West won the role reportedly because he was the only one who could deliver his lines with a straight face.

Lyle Waggoner, who lost the role of Batman to Adam West, later went on to play Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman TV series.

Frank Gorshin was chosen to play the Riddler because he had been a Batman fan since childhood, while John Astin briefly replaced him for two episodes in season two when Gorshin's new agents at William Morris demanded more money.

Producers developed several tentative scripts for Two-Face but never produced them, and Clint Eastwood was allegedly considered for the role shortly before the series was canceled.

Julie Newmar was unable to reprise her role as Catwoman in season three because she was filming Mackenna's Gold, so Eartha Kitt took over the part, becoming one of the era's notable Black actresses in a mainstream TV success alongside Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek.

Burgess Meredith improvised the Penguin's distinctive 'quacking' sound as a way to hide the fact that he was coughing from smoke caught in his throat due to the cigarette holder required for the role.

Near the end of the third season, after ABC canceled the show, NBC agreed to take it over, but the deal fell through when it was discovered that hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of Batman sets had already been destroyed.

The series originated after East Coast ABC executive Yale Udoff pitched a prime-time Batman show in the style of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., partly inspired by Hugh Hefner's 1964 Playboy Mansion screening of the 1943 Batman movie serial, which led Columbia to re-release it theatrically in 1965 as 'An Evening with Batman and Robin'.

Espionage novelist Eric Ambler was originally set to write the TV movie meant to launch the series, but dropped out after learning that producer William Dozier intended to approach the material as campy comedy rather than serious adventure.

Several cast members recorded tie-in music, including Adam West's country-pop single 'Miranda' (which he performed in costume live), Frank Gorshin's 'The Riddler' (arranged by Mel Tormé), Burgess Meredith's spoken-word Penguin single, and Burt Ward's 'Boy Wonder, I Love You', written and arranged by Frank Zappa.

The original 1960s Batmobile was auctioned in January 2013 at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona, selling for $4.2 million.

Godzilla series writer Shinichi Sekizawa submitted a 1965 manuscript proposing a crossover between Batman and Godzilla, featuring Robin, Commissioner Gordon, the Batmobile, Batcopter, and Batcycle, though the project was never made.

Conan O'Brien has cited the Batman TV series as a formative influence on his comedy, noting its impact on deadpan comedies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun.