This was Philip Wylie's final work as a writer before his death on October 25, 1971 at the age of 69.
When Glenn Howard (Gene Barry) is introduced to "the Chairman", he is told to call him Walt, with the explanation "We use first names here. Friendlier...". This is a sly reference to Walt Disney and his first-name policies for Disneyland and other Disney businesses.
Writers sometime pick future dates by simply re-arraigning dates; in this case the story was broadcast in 1971 and the future date was 2017. George Orwell did the same thing with his classic 1984 which was originally published in 1948.
According to (unofficial) Steven Spielberg biographer Joseph McBride, some scenes were filmed in the fall of 1970 by Spielberg at the Hyperion Water Treatment plant in El Segundo, California, and on location in areas of the western San Fernando Valley that had recently been incinerated in a violent Santa Ana wind-driven firestorm.
Michael C. Gwynne (Dr. Parker) later played Slim in Cherry 2000 (1987), another dystopia set in 2017.