The BBC, who made the parent Doomwatch (1970) series, turned this pilot down as it was not felt to fit in with their current drama policy; consequently rival UK broadcaster Channel 5 first transmitted it.
This was the pilot edition of a proposed series of similar-length editions, although costs (a rumoured £1.5 million was spent on "Winter Angel") meant that the future episodes were scrapped. These were to feature storylines based around nanotechnology smuggling, a computer virus with the ability to invade human brains, and protein-based biochips.
The only link to the original BBC series is Dr Spencer Quist, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician and nuclear physicist who had been director of the Department of Observation and Measurement of Scientific Work (Doomwatch). He was played by John Paul but as the actor had died in 1995, the character was recast.
Hugo Cox's Angelware computer software is based around the work of William Blake. The operating code "The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God" is one of his Proverbs of Hell from "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (1790-1793).