This marks the final television appearance of DeForest Kelley before his death on 11 June 1999, discounting his appearance in ST:DS9 Trials and Tribble-ations (1996), which was archive footage from Star Trek (1966). Kelley filmed his scene on Tuesday 2 June 1987.
DeForest Kelley's cameo as an aged McCoy was a late addition to the script and was devised by Gene Roddenberry. "It came about as a result of, I think, a meeting between him and De," remembered producer Robert H. Justman. "I think it had been on Gene's mind and he invited De to lunch and he says, 'How would you feel about it?', expecting De to say, 'No. NO'-and De said, 'I'd be honored.' And not only that, not only did he say 'I'd be honored,' but he refused to take any more than SAG scale [salary]. He could have held us up for a lot of money, and he didn't. And it was just great; it really got to me, the way he did it [the scene]. It really got to me; it was a beautiful, beautiful scene."
At Farpoint, Dr. Crusher decides to purchase a bolt of fabric and asks the Bandi to charge it to her account on the Enterprise, making this one of the very, very rare references to any sort of money being used by the Federation.
Apparently at some point during this mission, Geordi La Forge told Data a joke, which the humourless android did not "get" until years later, when he activated his emotion chip during the events of Star Trek: Generations (1994).
Industrial Light & Magic did the special effects for this episode only, but was also credited for the rest of the series because footage was continuously reused.
Andrew Probert: Consulting senior illustrator appears as a post-atomic courtroom spectator with a "large tribble" on his head.