Opening and closing sequences of The Prisoner

The opening and closing sequences of the TV series The Prisoner are considered iconic, "one of the great set-ups of genre drama." The music over the opening and closing credits, as broadcast, was composed by Ron Grainer, a composer whose other credits include the theme music for Doctor Who.

Ron Grainer's theme was chosen after two other composers, Robert Farnon and Wilfred Josephs, created themes that were rejected by series executive producer Patrick McGoohan. Farnon's theme was rejected for being a virtual copy from the film The Big Country (1958). Josephs' discordant theme got as far as being applied to early edits of "Arrival" and "The Chimes of Big Ben", and can be heard on the recovered early edits of the two episodes that have subsequently been released to DVD. (Prior to this, Josephs' melody was used as incidental music on the broadcast versions of "Arrival".) Farnon's theme remained unheard until it was unearthed for Don't Knock Yourself Out, a DVD featurette created for the 2007 DVD reissue of The Prisoner in the UK; the featurette was also included in the 2009 A&E Home Video DVD and Blu-ray release in North America. Before he would finally use Grainer's theme, McGoohan required Grainer to rescore it in a faster tempo and place emphasis on the timpani drums.

The title sequence (seen in all but two episodes) begins with a clouded sky and the sound of thunder, the latter becoming that of a jet engine. As the theme music begins, the view dissolves to reveal a stern-faced man, the future Number Six, driving rapidly in his Lotus Seven down an empty highway (actually the bottom end of the recently opened Santa Pod Raceway drag strip in Bedfordshire), then past the Houses of Parliament in London, into an underground car park. Entering the building through a set of double doors labelled "Way Out", he then strides down a long, narrow corridor leading to another set of double doors; he pulls these open with great ferocity.

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