There was some indecision on what form the final version of this episode would take. It was originally conceived as a standard one hour episode, then later it was expanded to 90 minutes. When concerns arose that it may be too long, a proposal was made to cut it back to the standard length, but in the end it expanded even further and became a 2 hour feature length movie (which became 2½ hours once commercials were included).
The episode was originally titled 'Paying My Dues To The Blues'.
Neither the standard opening title sequence nor the title "Homicide" appear in this episode.
This episode won three Sammy Awards in 1976 - Best TV Play, Best Writer of a TV Play, for Keith Thompson, and Best Direction For TV, for Igor Auzins.
The first acting role for Jon English. The soundtrack music comes from his album "It's All a Game", and the episode's theme tune "Turn the Page", a cover of the Bob Seger song, became a Top 40 hit for English.