<P> The show's opening titles were originally intended to feature footage of refugees and Nazi troops, to illustrate the threat faced by the Home Guard . Despite opposition from the BBC's Head of Comedy Michael Mills, Paul Fox, the controller of BBC 1, ordered that these be removed on the grounds that they were offensive . The replacement titles featured the now familiar animated sequence of swastika - headed arrows approaching Britain . The opening titles were updated twice; firstly in Series 3, adding colour and noticeably better animation and then again in Series 6, which made some slight tweaks to the animation . </P> <P> There were two different versions of the closing credits for the show . The first version, used in Series 1 and 2, simply showed footage of the main cast superimposed over a still photograph, with the crew credits rolling over a black background . The more familiar closing credits, introduced in Series 3, were a homage to the end credits of the film The Way Ahead (1944) which had covered the training of a platoon during the war . In both instances, each character is shown as they walk across a smoke - filled battlefield . One of the actors in Dad's Army, John Laurie, also appeared in that film and his performance in the end credits of The Way Ahead appears to be copied in the sitcom . Coincidentally, the film's lead character (played by David Niven) is named Lt. Jim Perry . </P> <P> The show's theme tune, "Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?" was Jimmy Perry's idea, intended as a gentle pastiche of wartime songs . It was the only pastiche in the series, as the other music used was contemporary to the 1940s . Perry wrote the lyrics himself and composed the music with Derek Taverner . Perry persuaded one of his childhood idols, wartime entertainer Bud Flanagan, to sing the theme for 100 guineas . Flanagan died less than a year after the recording . At the time it was widely believed to be a wartime song . </P> <P> The version played over the opening credits differs slightly from the full version recorded by Flanagan; an edit removes, for timing reasons, two lines of lyric with the "middle eight" tune: "So watch out Mr Hitler, you have met your match in us / If you think you can crush us, we're afraid you've missed the bus ." Bud Flanagan's full version appears as an Easter egg on the first series DVD release and on the authorised soundtrack CD issued by CD41 . Arthur Lowe also recorded a full version of the theme . </P>

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