How to make a background?

[wolfman]

I need the best(high performance) way to draw a background in a scene.
I started with glDrawPixels() - but redrawing full screen slowes down fps terribly.
I optimized and made partial redrawing(only those parts that need to be redrawn). Performance increased, but it is still low.

Now I am plannig to try textured quad to use as a background, is that the only way?

[CrazyButcher]

I am doing a tex quad as well, thinking that is the most common way to do it.

[seed]

textured quad without depth testing and all not required stuff like lighting, blending, etc turned off will give you the best performance for a background