The characters of Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) and Rudy Wells (Martin E. Brooks) appeared on this series and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman (1976). When the spin-off moved to another network, this practice continued. This was the first time the same continuing characters appeared on two different television series broadcast on two different networks at the same time.
The aircraft seen crashing in the show's opening sequence was an M2-F2, a "lifting body configuration" built by Northrop. The audio sound effects are from a crash that occurred on May 10, 1967, at Edwards Air Force base in California (although the dialogue heard was recorded by Lee Majors). The test pilot, Bruce Peterson, hit the ground at two hundred fifty miles per hour, tumbling six times. He lost use of his right eye following an infection, and had to stop flying, ending his career. Understandably, Peterson has said that he hated reliving his accident, week after week, courtesy of the show.
Early episodes of the series had Austin killing villains on occasion. As it became clear that Austin was becoming a role model for kids, the level of violence in the series decreased, with Austin rarely (if ever) actually killing anyone.
Former U.S. Air Force pilot and N.A.S.A. Public Relations man Martin Caidin's 1971 novel "Cyborg" was the source material for this show.
When the show was broadcast in Israel, it was called "The Man Who Is Worth Millions". This was due to the fact that, in Israel, the number six million is associated with the Holocaust.