Farah, who also won silver in the 10,000m this week, kept his cool and went to the front with more than a lap to go after a slow, tactical race.
The move paid dividends as he stretched out a big enough lead to hold off his competition, finishing in a time of 13 minutes 23 seconds.
Earlier this year, Farah moved to the USA to be coached by Alberto Salazar who explained this week, "We haven't worked on his springint technique at the end of a race.
"We have worked on a lot and there has been a big improvement, but I haven't yet worked on Farah's speed."
That the 28-year-old still has room to improve on his fast finish can only be frightening news for his rivals and his coach is focused on ensuring Farah is a hero of the London 2012 Olympics.
"When we've done the work, Farah will be a contender for both gold medals," added Salazar.
Indeed, Farah's gold in South Korea meant the whole of Team GB ended an up-and-down week on a high and still on track for success at the London 2012 Olympics this time next year.
Britain had to wait until day six to strike gold but Dai Greene delivered an excellent performance in the 400m hurdles.
Welshman Greene held his nerve after two false-starts to record a time of 48.26 seconds and added world gold to his victories in the European Championships and Commenwealth Games in 2010.
Greene said he was inspired by Hannah England who was celebrating with the Union Jack after she had won a surprise silver in the women's 1500m.
He said: "I saw Hannah England's performance and saw her running around with the flag, and thought I had to get a piece of that action."
But, while England's silver was an unexpected boost to the medal total, Team GB suffered its fair share of disappointments this week.
Christine Ohuruogu was disqualified after falling foul of the harsh false-start rule which claimed its biggest victim when Usain Bolt was dumped out of the 100m.
Heptathlete Jessica Ennis led her multi-event competition for most of the way but a poor javelin left her needing a miracle in the 800m to overhaul Russian Tatyana Chernova.
Sheffield-born Ennis ran a personal best in the final event but still had to settle for silver and it was a similar story on the last day of competition for Phillips Idowu.
Idowu produced a season-best performance of 17.70m and yet had to settle for second place after 21-year-old American Christian Taylor (17.96m) pipped him to the gold.
Nevertheless, adding in the controversial bronze medal won by Andy Turner - awarded after Cuban Dayron Robles was disqualified for putting China's Liu Xiang off balance - Team GB achieved their best overall performance at the World Championships since finishing 4th in Stuttgart in 1993.
Importantly, they matched the pre-competition aim of seven medals, set by head coach Charles van Commenee.
Meanwhile, Bolt recovered to retain his 200m world title in his third-fastest ever time before leading Jamaica to a new world record in the 4x100m relay, acting as anchor in a time of 37.04.
And, with still some room for improvement, British athletics can also surely look forward to their own sprinkling of success at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford 11 months from now.
WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011 (Daegu)
Medal Table
| Pos | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | UNITED STATES | 12 | 8 | 5 | 25 |
| 2 | RUSSIA | 9 | 4 | 6 | 19 |
| 3 | KENYA | 7 | 6 | 4 | 17 |
| 4 | JAMAICA | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| 5 | GERMANY | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 6 | GREAT BRITAIN & NI | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 7 | CHINA | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | AUSTRALIA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | ETHIOPIA | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 10 | UKRAINE | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Team GB medallists
2 Gold Dai Greene (men's 400m hurdles), Mo Farah (men's 5000m)
4 Silver Mo Farah (men's 10000m), Hannah England (women's 1500m), Jessica Ennis (women's heptathlon), Phillips Idowu (men's triple jump)
1 Bronze Andrew Turner (men's 110m hurdles)
Team GB at the World Championship Athletics
| Year | Hosts | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total (Rank) |
| 2011 | Daegu | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 (6th) |
| 2009 | Berlin | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 (8th) |
| 2007 | Osaka | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 (11th) |
| 2005 | Helsinki | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 (16th) |
| 2003 | Saint-Denis | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 (30th) |
| 2001 | Edmonton | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 (19th) |
| 1999 | Seville | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 (12th) |
| 1997 | Athens | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 (10th) |
| 1995 | Gothenburg | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 (13th) |
| 1993 | Stuttgart | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 (4th) |
| 1991 | Tokyo | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 (5th) |
| 1987 | Rome | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 (7th) |
| 1983 | Helsinki | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 (6th) |
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