Mission: Impossible is an American espionage television series, financed and produced by Desilu Productions, that aired on CBS for 7 seasons from September 1966 to March 1973 . It was revived in 1988 for two seasons on ABC, and later inspired the series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise beginning in 1996.

Created and initially produced by Bruce Geller, the show chronicled the exploits of a small team of covert government agents, known as the Impossible Missions Force, and their sophisticated methods of deceiving, manipulating and thwarting, amongst others, hostile Iron Curtain governments, third-world dictators, corrupt industrialists, and crime lords.

In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs (played by Steven Hill); Jim Phelps (played by Peter Graves) takes charge for the six remaining seasons. Briggs and Phelps usually assemble the same core team of agents, all of whom have careers and some degree of celebrity outside of espionage. The team is occasionally supplemented by other specialists.