Michael Piller conceived Martus Mazur to be the wayward son of Guinan. Guinan herself was to appear in the episode but Whoopi Goldberg was unavailable. All the references to Guinan were removed and only Martus's status as an El-Aurian was retained.
The racquetball court was built on the holosuite set. Due to the cost of putting up and taking down the set, it was decided not to re-use the sport.
It took six hours to shoot all of the racquetball scenes. The "futuristic" design of the court, with its beveled walls, caused the ball to bounce back at unpredictable angles. In an interview Alexander Siddig said, "...we were chasing these balls around like nutters, until they finally just staged us so we could look like we were shooting the ball where we wanted it to go."
Michael Piller originally envisioned the character of Martus becoming a recurring one but later decided against it.
When Sisko is in Ops and speaking with Dax and Kira about the rash of accidents in the infirmary, he mentions people running into turbolift doors before they open. This is an obvious wink to the long time fans at the famous Original Series blooper reel where, many times, various crewmembers can be seen doing just that: running into a turbolift door before the off screen workers can slide the doors open.