Florence Pugh revealed that nudity was banned by the American television network which co-produced the drama. Purgh explained, "America is quite scared of bums and nipples. We had to make sure there were no bums and nipples out. There was one scene we did where Alex [Skarsgård] and I were under the duvet and supposedly naked, and halfway through, I hear: 'CUT! CUT!' [Director Chan-wook Park] says: 'Florence, you've got to hide your nipples more!' I'm like: 'OK!' So we do it again, and again I hear: 'CUT! CUT! Florence! It looks like you're hiding your nipples.' I'm like: 'Arrrgh! Just let me get my breasts out, I don't care!' But America does care. I don't know why. My parents were very cool and made sure we watched lots of European films when we grew up, so nudity has never been a problem for me, as long as it's done beautifully."
At the end of a withering review of The Little Drummer Girl (1984), the Hollywood attempt to compress John le Carré's novel into a feature film, critic Vincent Canby suggested the material "could have been done successfully as a television mini-series".
Previously produced as a feature film, The Little Drummer Girl (1984), starring Diane Keaton and directed by George Roy Hill in 1984.
Vanessa Redgrave was rumored to have been the prototype for Charlie in the original novel but her personality was modeled after John le Carré's (his given name is David Cornwell) half-sister Charlotte Cornwell.
The first episode registered 6.81 million UK viewers.