As it turns out, the Cylon’s appearance in the “A-Team” opening credits was all thanks to Benedict, who played Arthur Templeton “Faceman” Peck in the series. According to an interview Benedict gave in 2012, the actor initially intended the crossover to be a one-off inside joke. He explained:
“I take full responsibility, full credit for that. We were actually shooting at – we didn’t, the A-Team was never filmed at a studio, but occasionally we’re at Universal because it was a Universal show. We were always out on location, but this one episode we shot on the lot, and we were shooting there, and there was a Cylon just walking by from the tour that they do, and I saw him and I went to the director I said, ‘Oh, oh, oh! Before we — at the beginning of this next scene, just have that Cylon walk in front of me.’ ‘Oh, well, why?’ I said, ‘No, just, I got an idea.’ What I did, you know, just looked at him like, ‘Don’t I know you?’ Just, then we went on with the scene, just as a joke for dailies.”
Of course, the little “joke” Benedict staged ended up tickling the makers of “The A-Team” enough that they decided to put the moment in the opening credits, using the clip as part of Benedict’s starring title card montage.