Columbo's wardrobe consisted of Peter Falk's own clothes, including the high-topped shoes and shabby suit. Falk bought the famous raincoat, which first appeared in "Prescription: Murder (1968)," for $15 in 1967, when he got caught in a New York City rainstorm. A life-long cigarette smoker, Falk added the cigar as a personal touch.
The original plan was for a new episode to air every week, which would have meant shooting an episode every five days. As a motion picture star, Peter Falk refused to commit to such a busy schedule. The network arranged for the Columbo segments to air once a month on Wednesday nights.
Columbo's Peugeot convertible can be seen on the "Universal Studios" tour.
Peter Falk frequently added in unscripted improvisations such as asking for a pencil, searching for something in his pockets, asking a character to repeat something, rambling about irrelevant trivialities, or adding in a line about Mrs. Columbo. Falk did this to frustrate and annoy his fellow actor (usually the suspect) and generate a genuine "get to the point" moment.
It was established in two episodes that Columbo speaks fluent Italian. With his New York accent and olive complexion he played a convincing Italian-American. In reality, Peter Falk was of Polish-Jewish, Czech-Jewish, and Hungarian-Jewish ancestry and was not an Italian speaker.
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