Both Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat named The Ark in Space as their favourite Doctor Who (1963) story.
Aside from an extra, Brian Jacobs, as Technician Dune, and two voice-over artistes, no-one but the regular cast appears on-screen in part one of this story; the last time this occurred was "The Edge of Destruction".
The set for this story, designed by Roger Murray-Leach, was very large and expensive by Doctor Who (1963)'s usual standards. In an effort to save money, it was used again for Revenge of the Cybermen: Part One (1975).
This story was a complete rewrite by script editor Robert Holmes of a script by John Lucarotti which was considered too complicated to be produced.