The Coast Guard had to use Fireman rescue personnel for water rescues during the time that this was filmed. The Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer program did not come into being until an act of Congress mandated it in 1984. In 1983, 31 crew members of the M/V MARINE ELECTRIC perished in cold and rough seas because the Coast Guard was not equipped to handle situations such as that.
At 35 minutes and six seconds, the Coast Guard helicopter is shown flying over the then Top Secret USNS Hughes Glomar Explorer (T-AG-193), which was a deep-sea drillship platform initially built for the United States Central Intelligence Agency Special Activities Division secret operation Project Azorian to recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129, lost during April 1968. The Glomer Explorer did recover in 1974 a portion of K-129, This episode was shown in September 1975, it is likely the scene was filmed shortly after the ship returned to port.
This marks the first appearance of the Coast Guard helicopter 1442 leaving the airport with Johnny and Roy aboard. This scene was used several more times in seasons 5 and 6.
The director of this episode, Dennis Donnelly, is the brother of Tim Donnelly, the actor who portrays firefighter Chet Kelly.
After the crew boards the USCG helicopter enroute to a rescue, the helicopter flies past the Hughes Glomar Explorer.