A remake, in slightly modified form, of the original pilot. The Uncle Charlie character featured in the pilot was omitted and the episode slightly rewritten to remove all scenes. A new teaser opening in the Miller house was written to replace the scenes with Uncle Charlie. The remainder of the episode's dialogue is identical to the pilot, aside from the changes to the characters who were changed.
One of only a few episodes that showed scenes outside of the squad room.
First appearances of Jack Soo as Nick Yemana, Max Gail as Wojo, Gregory Sierra as Chano, and Ron Glass as Harris. Yemana's and Chano's dialogue were originally given to Sgt. Grimaldi in the pilot. While Wojo was a replacement for the character of Kazinski in the original pilot. Harris was a replacement for Detective Wilson from the original pilot.
The opening credit sequence is a shot of Midtown, more specifically, from the West Side Highway. The Empire State Building is in the background, while the ventilation shafts of the Lincoln Tunnel are in the foreground.
First episode taped at ABC Television Center in Hollywood.