Christmas decorations are visible around the lodge indicating that filming likely took place in December. It is one of the few times in the series that there is a reference to Christmas (Angel's Child (1980) being another).
ABC (US) originally aired this story as a single feature-length episode, in direct competition with the series premiere of NBC's Supertrain (1979) (which flopped at great expense to NBC). In syndication this episode is shown in two parts.
Jaclyn Smith (Kelly) and Dennis Cole (Carl Hansworth) were real-life husband and wife when this episode aired. They were married from 1978 to 1981.
Dennis Cole (Carl Hansworth) previously appeared as different characters in season one's Dancing in the Dark (1977) and season two's Unidentified Flying Angels (1977).