This episode was repeated in November 2005 as part of a special celebrating the 50th year of television channel HSV7 Melbourne.
The final regular episode with Leonard Teale as Det. Snr. Sgt. David Mackay, and the final episode with Alwyn Kurts as Insp. Colin Fox. Teale would return to the series as Insp. Mackay for a one-off appearance in the final episode, "The Last Task".
Alwyn Kurts and Leonard Teale both chose to leave the series after they were unable to negotiate satisfactory conditions for the extra overtime they had to work in all-film production after their contracts were due for renewal in December 1972. George Mallaby signed a new contract, which included a 13 week escape clause.
Australian television magazine TV Times ran a competition where viewers could suggest their own suitable exit for detectives Fox and Mackay. Among the responses that they received were winning the lottery, getting lost at sea and falling over a cliff during a fight.
Speculation was rife about how detectives Fox and Mackay would be written out of the series, and two different versions of the script were published in order to maintain the secrecy. The secret of the detectives' exit was so well-guarded that when actor Paul Karo was up on the rooftop with a rifle ready to film the scene, he still didn't know who he was supposed to shoot.