His nationality became British, and he was an agent working for a secret British government department, called M9 (analogous to Secret Intelligence Service), though his Mid-Atlantic English accent persists for the first few episodes in production. These were also filmed in black and white. Other than the largely nominal change of employer and nationality, Drake's mandate remains the same: "to undertake missions involving national and global security". In keeping with the episodic format of such series in the 1960s, there are no ongoing story arcs and there is no reference made to Drake's NATO adventures in the later M9 episodes. The pilot was written by Brian Clemens, who later co-created "The Avengers". In an interview Clemens said:  The pilot I wrote was called "View from the Villa" and it was set in Italy, but the production manager set the shoot on location in Portmeirion, which looked like Italy but which was much closer. And obviously the location stuck in Patrick McGoohan's mind, because that's where he shot his television series "The Prisoner" much later. The second unit director on the pilot, according to Clemens:  ... shot some location and background stuff and sent the dailies back to the editing room at Elstree. Ralph Smart looked at them, hated them, and called up the second unit director and said "Look, these are terrible, you'll never be a film director," and then he fired him. The name of the second unit director? John Schlesinger. The first series was a series in Europe. However, when American financing for a second season failed, the program was cancelled. The first season of the series aired on CBS from 5 April to 13 September 1961. A DVD release of the first season by A&E Home Video in 2000, erroneously states on its box that these episodes were never broadcast in the US. After a two-year hiatus, two things had changed; "Danger Man" had subsequently been resold all around the world, whilst repeat showings had created a public clamour for new shows. Also, by this time James Bond had become popular, as had ABC's "The Avengers". "Danger Man"s creator, Ralph Smart, re-thought the concept; the second series' (1964) episodes were 49 minutes long and had a new musical theme, Edwin Astley's "High Wire". Drake gained an English accent and did not clash with his bosses at first. The revived "Danger Man" was broadcast in the U.S. as "Secret Agent", first shown as a CBS summer replacement program.