This episode was created expressly with the purpose of providing an appropriate way for Wil Wheaton to leave the show. Wheaton had asked to leave The Next Generation so he could pursue offers to appear in feature films.
Wil Wheaton's final credited appearance as a regular. He later appeared as a guest in The Game (1991), The First Duty (1992), Parallels (1993), and Journey's End (1994).
Originally, the setting of the stranding was to be on an ice planet, but producers determined that such a setting would look too hokey on screen. Rick Berman suggested the desert planet setting feeling it would come across as more realistic looking.
Before beginning their trek to the mountains, Dirgo distributes some phasers he scavenged from his damaged shuttle. The props used are Starfleet phaser pistols circa 2285, from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
Two days of location shooting were done on the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles to portray the surface of Lambda Paz.