Paul Sorvino's request to appear on the series came just as the role of Nikolai was set to be cast. Producers immediately felt that Sorvino was an actor who best embodied what they were looking for in the character.
Scenes were filmed outdoors in the Bronson Caves area of Griffith Park at the time of wild fires which occurred there in November 1993. As a result, cast and crew had to be evacuated for a brief time, which resulted in a reshuffling of the filming schedule, but no props or filming equipment were lost to the fire.
The stardate for this episode (47423.9) places it before the events of the previous episode, The Pegasus (1994) (stardate 47457.1).
Paul Sorvino is only six years younger than Georgia Brown who played his character's mother, and 15 years younger than Theodore Bikel who played his character's father, earlier in the series. See Family (1990) and New Ground (1992). Brown's character is spoken of by Sorvino's character as being alive, even though the actress died about a year before this episode was filmed.