Mission: Impossible influenced The A-Team

When NBC president Brandon Tartikoff pitched The A-Team to Stephen J. Cannell, he described the proposed series as a combination of The Dirty Dozen, Mission: Impossible, The Magnificent Seven, Mad Max, and Hill Street Blues. Both use a specialized team whose members have distinct skills, brought together to execute a difficult operation. The A-Team also inherited the idea of solving missions through coordinated planning and the use of each member's particular specialty.