Maxwell Smart must defeat the sinister Mr. Big, who is using a device called the Inthermo to threaten New York City. Michael Dunn, who would go on to star as The Wild Wild West's Dr. Miguelito Loveless, stars as KAOS's Mr. Big. This pilot episode introduced a running gag of a captured Maxwell Smart trying to bluff his way out by claiming that an overwhelming force is going to rescue him starting with "Would You believe .."..and those who capture him say either "I Find that hard to believe " or "I dont think So..".

Max and Harry Hoo try to solve a murder of an agent in a tropical hotel. This is a parody of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. One of the suspects is named "Ben Gazzman", and says he is an adventurer living life at most since he has two years to live, a spoof of the Run for Your Life series that starred Ben Gazzara.

Cutbacks at CONTROL mean part-time work for all of its agents. Max decides to set up shop as a private detective with 99 as his secretary. This episode marks the second impression by Adams of Humphrey Bogart on the show, this time as a parody of his Sam Spade role from The Maltese Falcon, and for the parody characters of the Fat Man and Joel Cairo, most famously played by Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre (although here the Fat Man is called Mr. Peter and the Lorre-type character is Mr. Sidney. When Max apologizes for constantly mixing the name up, the Fat Man tells him that it happens "all the time"). Buddy Hackett has a cameo as the duo's bespectacled but nearsighted gunslinger Wilbur (based on "Wilmer Cook" of The Maltese Falcon). The episode's title is printed as "Maxwell Smart, Private Eye" on the DVD edition, but announced as "Maxwell Smart, Private Spy" in Barbara Feldon's spoken introduction, and this title appears in NBC memos shown on the bonus features DVD.

A hippie disk jockey called the Groovy Guru (played by guest star Larry Storch) seeks to control the minds of teenagers through his radio show. This is a parody of the German folktale and Robert Browning's poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."

An amusement park attendant inadvertently gives Max and 99 a kewpie doll at a shooting gallery game. The doll is really a way for KAOS to smuggle plutonium out of the country. Shortly after, KAOS finds out and hunts down 86 and 99 at the park, ultimately leading them to the evil Waxman, a villain who turns his victims into wax statues. Will Max and 99 become permanent wax statues?

KAOS heists 5 straight federal payrolls, putting CONTROL into severe financial straits. The Chief sends Max, disguised as recently-deceased prospector Frogsie Debbs, to Mira Lodo, Mexico, to find Debbs' old partner C. Errol Madre. Debbs and Madre had charted a map leading to a gold find, with each keeping one half of the map until one day they join forces again to get the gold. A successful impersonation of Debbs by Max could recover enough gold to help restore CONTROL's operations. A spoof of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Max and 99 go to London to investigate a modern-day Jack the Ripper, and meet yet another evil wax museum owner. The Title is a spoof of House of Wax.

Max comes home from work one evening to find 99 in bed, with a black eye. She's actually an impostor — the real 99 (who gave her the black eye) was kidnapped by KAOS but had escaped, and was now with the Chief — but the Chief orders Max to pretend that he's taken in by the deception and for 99 to return to captivity, the better to figure out what KAOS is up to.

Max and the Chief investigate a series of security leaks that seem to be connected to a chain of Roman Bath spas. A spoof of Spartacus. Guest starring Ronald Long as Montague Leach.