The tower was built by the engineering firm of Gustave Eiffel, Eiffel et Cie, a company well established in metallic construction projects. This firm underwent many transformations in the following years, but it still survives today, still under the name Eiffel, and it still specializes in complex steel construction work and engineering.

From the highest public level of the tower, at 273 metres, you can theoretically see for a distance of just over 59 km (a little under 37 miles). However, because the region surrounding the tower includes a lot of rolling hills, some points even further away are visible, whereas other points at near distances are not visible (because they are hidden by other hills).