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The current Gallifreyan civilization was founded at an unknown time in the distant past by Rassilon, whose legacy is seen throughout the entire culture and technology of the Time Lords. Perhaps the most significant of these is the Eye of Harmony, an artificial black hole created by the Time Lord Omega and captured by Rassilon for use as a power source for time travel. All Time Lord TARDIS time machines draw their power from the Eye of Harmony.

Gallifrey is surrounded by an impenetrable force field called the "transduction barrier". This prevents all outsiders (with hostile intent or otherwise) from approaching the planet. It also allows the Time Lords to maintain their status of absolute neutrality, allowing them to observe the actions of the rest of the Universe without actually taking part in its affairs. The barrier was breached once during the course of the show, by the Sontarans, using an inside agent. Gallifrey is the name of the planet as well as its major city, which houses the citadel of the Time Lords, known as the Panopticon, under which the Eye of Harmony is kept. Also on Gallifrey is the Matrix, the vast extradimensional computer network which acts as the repository of all Time Lord knowledge as well as containing the memories of dead Time Lords.

Various novels and audio plays have expanded on the history and nature of Gallifrey, although many fans do not consider the information in them to be canonIn the context of fiction, the canon of a fictional universe comprises those novels, stories, films, etc. that are considered to be genuine, and those events, characters, settings, etc. that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional. In the novel, The Ancestor Cell, the planet is destroyed as a result of the Eighth Doctor's desire to prevent the voodoo cult Faction ParadoxFaction Paradox is the fictional time travelling voodoo cult/ rebel group/ organized crime syndicate created by Lawrence Miles. The family/organization, which originated in the BBC Doctor Who novels Alien Bodies and Unnatural History have gone on to spin- from starting a war against the unnamed Enemy. This also retroactively wiped the Time Lords from history.

It is unclear what the attitude of the new Doctor Who television series will be toward the information in the novels and audio plays, the latter produced by Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions is a British company that produces audio plays based on British cult science fiction properties. They are best known for their Doctor Who line; other properties include 2000 AD characters Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog, The Tomorrow. However, a number of writers of the novels and audio plays are also writing for the new television series.

Gallifrey is also the umbrella title of a series of audio plays set in the Doctor Who universe, also produced by Big Finish, featuring Louise JamesonLouise Jameson (born 20 April 1951) is a British actress, most famous for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the mysterious Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who''. Jameson has also appeared on as Leela and Lalla WardLalla Ward (the Honourable Sarah Ward (born June 28, 1951) is an actress and illustrator best known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who''. Lalla Ward, the daughter of Edward Ward, Viscount Bangor, began h as RomanaRomana short for Romanadvoratrelundar is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who''. She is a Time Lord (or Time Lady), an extraterrestrial race from the planet Gallifrey, and was a companion to the Fourth Doctor,.