For many years, this was the only episode which was originally recorded and broadcast in colour but survived only as a monochrome film telerecording. In 2008, however, technical engineers restored the edition to full colour by utilising the colour signal information recorded into the film print. The possibility of restoring this episode to colour originated from the TV Preservation Specialist James Insell, who had been watching an episode of Doctor Who (1963) starring Jon Pertwee which, like this episode of Dad's Army, only existed as a black and white film copy made from a master tape that had subsequently been wiped by the BBC. Insell had noticed colour interference appearing on the black and white film and thought it might be possible to use this colour information to restore episodes of series such as Dad's Army (1968) and Doctor Who (1963) back to full colour. On 11 December 2008, BBC television's Newsnight (1980) broadcast an item which included an interview with Insell about the restoration of this episode to colour using this innovative process.
Walker refers to his discharge from the regular Army due to his corned beef allergy. This was a link back to The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker (1969), one of the three editions of the series no longer thought to exist.
Mr Yeatman announces the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck, dating the edition (in part) to Tuesday May 27th 1941. Additionally, Frazer accurately notes that a year has passed since the platoon was formed (on May 14th 1940), whilst Captain Bailey refers to "Home Guard Officer's Commission Order" of February 12th 1941.
This is one of the few episodes of Dad's Army (1968) that can be positively dated within the time period of World War II. During the episode, the verger comes in to say that the sinking of German battleship the Bismarck has just been announced on the radio, an event that took place on the night of 26-27 May 1941.
This episode's title is a play on the name of John Braine's book "Room at the Top", published in 1957, and adapted into the film of the same name in 1959.