With approximately 106 million viewers, it is the most-watched episode of a television series ever. Nielson estimates 60.2% of all households with televisions watched the initial airing and a share of 77. The only television events that had more viewers are various Super Bowls, the Apollo moon landing, and President Nixon's resignation speech.
During filming, a brush fire broke out and destroyed much of the ranch set. Since the show was coming to an end, it was decided that rebuilding the set would be unnecessarily expensive, and the fire was written into the story by having the North Koreans set off incendiary devices that started a brush fire.
In an undated interview, Loretta Swit stated that she often teased David Ogden Stiers' being rather reclusive, particularly that she didn't even know his phone number. In the episode, Winchester gives a particular book of poetry to Houlihan. When Swit opened the book during filming, there was a slip of paper with Stiers' phone number on it. As Margaret/Loretta is leaving camp, waving her right hand, Winchester/David puts his right hand on his heart, an old gesture of respect.
Alan Alda specifically wrote Sidney Freedman's trademark phrase, "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice. Pull down your pants and slide on the ice" as his last lines in the finale. Sidney originally said the phrase in the Season 3 episode "O.R.," and later in Season 5's episode Dear Sigmund (1976). After actor Allan Arbus died, Alda tweeted the phrase in memoriam.
Footage from the 1976-77 season premiere episode, Bug Out (1976), is reused in this episode in the bug-out scenes of this episode. The footage was not in the original script. It was added after a forest fire broke out during filming, damaging the area used for the show's exterior scenes.