Fairly Secret Army was the second time that Geoffrey Palmer had worked with writer David Nobbs. They would go on to collaborate a further three times on Stalag Luft, The Legacy Of Reginald Perrin and The Maltby Collection.

Diana Weston and Paul Chapman also impressed the writer and appeared in his highly successful comedy drama series A Bit Of A Do.

At the time of broadcast, Palmer distanced himself from Harry by declaring himself to be conservative with a small 'c' and apolitical. He said that he loved the character in spite of this though.

When publicising the first series in 1984, Nobbs was at great pains to stress that Fairly Secret Army was not simply a spin-off but a series in its own right.

The show moved into the slot vacated by Chance In A Million on Channel 4, which coincidentally also featured the main character using a truncated speech pattern.

Although not officially connected with The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin, some ideas and dialogue from that series are used again in this sitcom. For example, the second episode of the first series contains a new version of the famous 'forces of anarchy' speech with Nancy taking over Reginald Perrin's role.