Godfrey Cambridge was originally cast as Det. Robinson but left during rehearsals due to creative differences with Don Adams.
Adams intended this to be a socially conscious series about a tough cop who is uncomfortable having an African-American partner. But the premise was changed by NBC.
NBC had exceptionally high hopes for the series after it performed well with test audiences. However, it failed to find a large enough audience because it aired Saturday nights at 8:00pm--right up against the highest-rated show on television, CBS's All in the Family. (Originally, CBS had scheduled My Three Sons against The Partners, but substituted All in the Family at the last minute.) After their January 8, 1972, broadcasts, NBC removed both The Partners and fellow freshman sitcom The Good Life from its schedule. (The move worked out for the network, as they were replaced with the medical drama Emergency!, which was a hit and ran six seasons.) Seventeen episodes of the show had aired by January; three more would be "burned off" in the summer of 1972. The show ranked 66th out of 78 shows that season with an average 12.5 rating.
The theme music, which accompanied the closing credits and occasionally popped up during the program itself, was composed by Lalo Schifrin, best known for the theme to Mission: Impossible.
Don Adams' fellow "officer," the talented comedic actor Rupert Crosse, died of cancer early in 1973. Had this show been renewed, it would have been in only its second season at the time of his death. While the show was not a hit, had it performed well enough to be renewed, it's nevertheless questionable whether it would have survived the loss of one of its two main stars so early in its run, especially because Crosse would likely have had to leave the series' production even before his eventual demise.