First credited appearance for David Naughton in TV or film, who would after this gain fame as the "Dr. Pepper guy." This is the only time he has appeared together with his real life brother James Naughton.
This episode takes place in 3085.
Originally the role of Kira was offered to Kim Hunter, who played Zira in the first three "Planet of the Apes" films. Unfortunately, she declined due to the fact that she didn't want to sit through the process of having the ape make up applied to her face. According to a Starlog interview, Kim had a horrible time dealing with the makeup ordeal; she had to take a Valium every morning before sitting in the makeup chair filming the original movie. She didn't enjoy how she was treated between takes while filming (people constantly offering her a banana to tease her, and poking at her makeup appliance). During a break on location, she once took a nap and had a nightmare that she had transformed into Zira. She decided no more naps after that, and gave up eating during each day's shoot as it was too much of an ordeal. It took a lot of prodding by the producers and studio executives to convince her to return for "Beneath the Planet of the Apes". She thought that the story of "Escape From the Planet of the Apes" was worth coming back for, but was glad her character was killed off at the end. So it was no surprise she declined being involved with the TV series.
The production number is B-509. While it was the seventh episode broadcast, it was the ninth in production order.
This episode was used as the first half of the fourth compilation movie "Life, Liberty and Pursuit on the Planet of the Apes" released in 1980, paired with "The Interrogation".