Who composed the original Mission: Impossible theme music?

Lalo Schifrin composed the original Mission: Impossible theme music.

The Argentine composer, pianist and conductor wrote the theme for the 1966–1973 television series, creating one of the most recognizable pieces in television history. Its tense, clipped rhythm helped define the show’s elaborate title sequence, which famously began with a fuse being lit before cutting between mission imagery and credits.

The theme is especially notable for its unusual quintuple meter, commonly represented as 5/4 time. Its driving rhythm has often been linked to the Morse-code pattern for “M.I.”, although the extent to which that connection consciously guided Schifrin’s composition is debated. Schifrin reportedly developed the main idea very quickly and gave it the working title “Burning Fuse.”

Schifrin won two Grammy Awards connected with his Mission: Impossible work in 1968. Later film versions used his theme while commissioning new scores from composers such as Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer. That distinction explains why Jerry Goldsmith is not the answer: he composed other famous film music, but not this original TV theme.