In the late 1970s, NBC had plans to bring the novel to television as one of the multi-part mini-series popular at the time. Ayn Rand wanted Farrah Fawcett to star, but the project never materialized.
According to Variety, The Godfather (1972) producer Albert S. Ruddy spent years trying to bring the novel to the big screen, attracting the interest of Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway along the way.
The first time Dagny Taggart is in her apartment, as she's clicking on the television, a computer monitor on the left has a black and white photo of Ayn Rand, the author of the source book.
This production reportedly had a budget of approximately $20,000,000. The budget was reportedly cut in half ($10,000,000) for Part 2 and cut in half again to only $5,000,000 to produce Part 3.