This was the first episode to run over 30 minutes, but not the first feature-length.
This is the final episode to use the original instrumental opening and closing themes composed by Ronnie Hazlehurst.
The original instrumental title theme by Ronnie Hazlehurst, used only on series 1, before being replaced by the now more familiar song, was recorded at BBC Lime Grove Music Studios.
The Production Manager, Jo Austin, was so unfamiliar with Cockney rhyming slang that she thought the actors were misreading the script in rehearsals.
This was the sole episode between 1981 and 1987 not to be produced by Ray Butt, who after the first series of the show, was reassigned to Seconds Out (1981) by the BBC. The initial plan was for Martin Shardlow, who had directed the first series, to also take on the producer's role for this episode and the second full series. However, Shardlow and John Sullivan could not agree on a future direction for the show, which eventually resulted in Shardlow deciding not to take the producer's role and leaving the show altogether. With this episode in danger of not being filmed in time for Christmas 1981, Butt arranged for his close friend and fellow BBC producer Bernard Thompson to produce and direct the episode, and Butt would subsequently return as producer (and this time director) for the second series.