According to TVTropes, under Wire Dilemma, Get Smart also had an instance of it around the same time, which leads me to believe that it was a widespread trope e

According to TVTropes, under Wire Dilemma, Get Smart also had an instance of it around the same time, which leads me to believe that it was a widespread trope even then. There is an idea that it originated in WWII, when some German bombs featured overly complicated designs that purposely didn't explode all the time, because a live bomb is arguably worse than an already exploded bomb.