Abstract: The first run of the Large Hadron Collider has been a great success, most notably with the discovery of the Higgs boson. Despite the continued triumph of the Standard Model, important questions about how nature works on small scales remain unanswered. Top quarks play a central role in many extensions to the Standard Model proposed to address these questions. A precise understanding of the production and kinematics of top quarks is therefore critical. In this talk, I will discuss top quark production at the LHC, both within and beyond the Standard Model. I will focus on top quarks produced with high transverse momentum, requiring dedicated reconstruction techniques. Additionally, I will present a planned upgrade of the CMS detector which will allow CMS to maintain its performance in the extreme conditions presented by the high luminosity upgrade of the LHC.