Some listings credit Alan Smithee as director. Stuart Rosenberg did use that name sometimes. Normally "Alan Smithee" is used by directors who do not want their name associated with a piece of work.
The title was one that Rod Serling considered for a screenplay that would later air as The Gift (1962), which was almost the pilot.
This is one of only four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959) in which Rod Serling uses a mid-episode narration. The other three are Walking Distance (1959), Time Enough at Last (1959), and I Sing the Body Electric (1962).
In the opening scenes, in the launch control room, some semi-circular flashing gauges are seen in the back of the control room. They are some of the gauges seen as part of the Krell facility on Altair IV in Forbidden Planet (1956).