The I-200 prototype was the materialization of the K-project (or X-project) begun in 1939 from the Polikarpov bureau.

The project bore some resemblance in philosophy with the He-100, an aircraft that was well-known to the Soviet designers and probably gave inspiration for the project. Other aircraft that could have influenced the project were the well-known I-16, the fast I-17 of 1935, and the American XP-37.
 

He-100	I-16
I-17	XP-37

In december 1939 a portion of the technicians of the Polikarpov bureau were assigned to a new OKO whose chief was Artyom Mikoyan and whose main collaborator was Mikhail Gurevich, to continue the promising project K. Nikolai Polikarpov, then on official visit in Germany, was distraught from his fall from "king of fighters" position.

The project K was envisioned as the smallest aircraft possible, designed around the large, heavy and powerful Mikulin AM-37 engine and optimized for high altitudes and high speed combat. Secondarily, the less powerful AM-35A was chosen as a backup alternative, being that the AM-37 was still unreliable. The aircraft was first referred to as the I-200.

The war appeared close, and so the government offices gave to Mikoyan the date of July 1st 1940 as a deadline for state acceptance trial; it was a result difficult to achieve, because they had started slowly, and because the Lavockin I-301 and Yakovlev I-26 projects had already months of advantage in development.

As many other Soviet fighters, the MiG-3 was made partially of layered and resined wood (alpha wood); this led to a higher weight than aluminium-alloy structures, but reduced the need for strategic materials. The rear fuselage and the outer parts of the wing were similarly constructed.

The mid and aft fuselage were made with a structure of welded steel tubes, covered with aluminium alloy panels. The central part of wing was made of aluminium alloys; the control surfaces were a aluminium alloy strut covered with fabric.

Thanks to a great effort from his bureau, the I-200 prototype was ready to fly on April 5th, 1940, and some days later it reached the speed of 648 km/h at an height of 6,900 m; an exceptional performance not only for the Soviet Union--the only faster semi-operative aircraft was the Heinkel He-100.

Being a brilliant aircraft, production was begun immediately, with a list of recommended modifications: greater longitudinal and directional stability, self-sealing wing fuel tank, slats, new wheels, rubberized tailwheel, two further removable guns, and an increased fuel capacity for a range of at least 1,000 km.

By the end of 1940, the first 20 I-200 were delivered to the VVS.Tthe pilots had many complaints, particularly about the side opening canopy, being operable from the outside only; this led most pilots to fly without it to escape rapidly if necessary. Besides, the aircraft was difficult to fly and could fall into an unrecoverable spin at high angles of attack.

After this feedback, a new version was developed, with the radiator moved forward and a new fuel tank added behind it; the engine was moved forward some 10 cm for cg reasons, the wing dihedral was augmented from 6° to 7°, the supercharger inlets were moved 10 cm forward, a inert exhaust gas was installed for fuel tanks, a second oil tank was added, the propeller was changed and automatic slats were added on the wing leading edges. These modifies were gradually introduced in production during the following months, beginning with the cockpit change.

In January 1941 the 100 aircraft already built were officially named MiG-1, and the following were named MiG-3 as recognition of the improvements made from early types. To tell the truth, it is not clear if the last MiG-1 had any difference with respect to the first MiG-3; we recognize as MiG-1 the aircraft with some resemblance to the prototype, as with the short water radiator and the early type undercarriage.

During February 1941 MiG-3s began production at Zavod 1 in Moscow-Vnukovo at rate of 70 per week, and were widely distributed to the air defense regiments of the VVS.

The early version of MiG-3 was still short-nosed and without slats. In spring 1941, before the official beginning of the war, the MiG fighters intercepted subcessfully some German Ju-86P reconaissance planes, that had felt safe flying at 12,000 m altitude; the Germans didn't know of the existence of a Soviet fighter able to operate so high.

During 1941, the dispersal and camouflaging of aircrafts was ordered, and the airfields and pilots training were prepared for the oncoming war.

On June 22, 1941 the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, and the Great Patrioctic war began.
At that moment, 1309 MiG fighters had been built, but most of the VVS consisted of outadated Polikarpov fighters.

Besides, this transitional moment was unfavourable for the full operational deployment of both old and new types. The MiG-3 was considerably better than the early MiG-1; many aerodinamic refinements were made after wind-tunnel tests, flight characteristics were better, and the range increased. Some defects were not deleted: limited firepower, high landing speed, poor maneuvrability at height below 6,000 m, irregular response of engine to throttle. Most of them wre the consequence of this project's philosophy: the smallest possible airframe around a heavy engine optimized for high altitude performance.
Unfortunately, most war-time operations on the Russian front were made at medium and low altitudes, where both the MiG's speed and maneuvrability were unsatisfying.

During August 1941, Stalin decided to move the war industry eastwards, far from the menaced zones. In August the design bureau was moved to Kuybyshev, 885 km east of Moscow. Then, in September and October the machines were rapidly disassembled, moved, and 'production' (reassembly) began in Kuybyshev immediately after the arrival, assembling components already built in Moscow. In spite of improvised installation, extreme cold and problems, a total of 1,811 MiGs were completed within the last half of 1941.

In the middle of the moving of the plant, Soviet government has decided that the production of MiG-3 should cease in october 1941, because of its unsatisfactory war results. But, the aircraft had still the possibility to be improved, and its defects were not sufficient to stop the production in a moment which required any fighter, so it therefore continued till the end of the year.

Even with this hybrid engine, the four aircrafts flew well and reached a speed of 656 km/h; they were delivered to the 12 Gv.IAP defending Moscow in August 1943.