Miami Vice : Synopsis, Pictures, Photos, Trivia, Filming Locations

. Many of the television critics who praised the show in its first season made reference to the series' music, a combination of songs by artists like Glenn Frey, Phil Collins and Kate Bush and original music by Jan Hammer, the former keyboardist for the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Frey and Collins made cameo appearances in some episodes of the series.

. The soundtrack LP went to #1 and stayed there for 11 weeks, making it the most successful TV soundtrack of all time. Jan Hammer received a congratulatory phone call from Henry Mancini, whose music from "Peter Gunn" (1958) was the previous record holder (it was #1 for 10 weeks in 1959).

. Crockett's Ferrari Daytona was actually a modified Corvette. Ferrari executives were so upset that this ersatz Ferrari was gaining such popularity that they offered to provide the series with their new flagship car, the Testarossa.

. Martin Ferrero (Trini DeSoto), the hit man who was killed in the pilot, then had a recurring character, Izzy Moreno, during the remainder of the series.

. Michael Mann was inspired to create the show's trademark pastel color scheme after a visit to a paint store.

. In the last scene of the final episode, Sonny Crockett is seen wearing a University of Kansas Jayhawk t-shirt. Don Johnson was a student at the University of Kansas.

. Sonny Crockett owned two boats on the show - an Endeavour 42 sailboat called "The St. Vitus' Dance" and a Wellcraft 38 Scarab KV "cigarette" speedboat.

. Larry Wilcox was a finalist to play Sonny Crockett.

. Anthony Yerkovich left "Hill Street Blues" (1981) to write the pilot for this show. While he was on "Blues", he wrote a character that was a 300 pound racist biker played by actor Dennis Burkley. The character's name was Sonny Crockett, the same name he gave the lead to this show.

. All technical advisors for the show served with the real-life Miami Vice unit, and required that the cast members first pass the Florida Department of Law Enforcement firearms test before they could handle weapons on the set.

. Crockett had a pet alligator named Elvis.

. Crockett's white Testarossa is currently on display at the Swap Shop Flea Market in Sunrise, Florida.

. In scenes where there was the potential for the white Ferrari Testarossa being destroyed the car was "stunt doubled" by a supercharged and heavily modified DeTomaso Pantera. As part of an agreement with Ferrari it was destroyed after the series ended.

. John Milius wrote the episode "Viking Bikers From Hell" under the pseudonym Walter Kurtz, the same name of Marlon Brando's character in Apocalypse Now (1979), also written by Milius.

. NBC originally wanted to spin off the characters of Officers Renko (a white cop raised in the South) and Hill (a black cop raised in the East) from "Hill Street Blues" (1981) into their own show, but decided not to when it was discovered that they were two of the most popular characters with viewers of the show. However, network executives liked the idea, and eventually it was incoporated into the characters of Sonny Crockett (white cop raised in the South) and Ricardo Tubbs (black cop raised in the East) on this show.