Stingray (1964 TV series) to HO". The process of designing and making the puppets took four months and each of the main characters was sculpted in duplicate to allow two episodes to be filmed simultaneously using both puppet stages. The likenesses of some of the puppets were inspired by real-life actors: Titan was based on a young Laurence Olivier and Surface Agent X-2-0 on either Claude Rains or Peter Lorre. Troy Tempest was modelled on James Garner at Gerry Anderson's suggestion. Atlanta Shore has been likened to Lois Maxwell (who voiced the character) and Marina to both Brigitte Bardot and Ursula Andress. "Stingray" was
Stingray (1964 TV series) to the Bottom of the Sea", in which he had played a Southern radio operator called Sparks. The voice of Surface Agent X-2-0 was Easton's impression of actor Peter Lorre, who had appeared in the same film. Sylvia Anderson, who had voiced the regular character Dr Venus on "Fireball XL5" and was credited for "characterisation supervision" for "Stingray", stated in her 2007 autobiography that she devised Marina as mute because she wanted to take a break from voice acting and "concentrate on the scripts and characters". The Aquaphibians were based on a villainous alien from the "Fireball XL5" episode "XL5