Initially written and filmed with production number 419 for Season 4, but held back due to the pandemic. The original title was "Banh Bao + Drill + Burner + Mason", so they added another ingredient to the title to match it for Season 5.
Mattie said to Russ of the person they are recruiting, " He is a genius who could probably turn you into a cyborg if you paid him enough money." Peter Weller, who directed and starred in this episode, also served in the title role of the film RoboCop (1987). Moreover, his directorial credit appeared before the quote.
Banh Bao is Vietnamese for bun cake. It is a ball-shaped steamed bun usually filled with pork, but it can also be made with chicken meat, onions, eggs, mushrooms and vegetables. It often has Chinese sausage and a portion of a hard-boiled egg inside. It was brought into and adopted by the Vietnamese mainstream by Cantonese immigrants.
The episode's second production number (the one for season five) is 515.
Michael Paul Chan (Desi's dad) also appeared in the original Macgyver in the The Wish Child (1986).