The on screen romance of Serena and Hercules is especially poignant, as Sam Sorbo and Kevin Sorbo who portray them, will marry in real life January 8, 1998 - just months after this episode first aired.
Hercules' half-brother Ares asks Hercules for his strength and power in exchange for the woman he loves and her freedom. Curiously in Disney's Hercules (1997), Hercules had his strength and power stripped for love of Meg by Hades, who in that version was Hercules' half-brother as well.
"When a Man Loves a Woman" is a song recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966. It has been re-recorded by numerous others, Michael Bolton's 1991 version is possibly the most famous.
At 2:42 Iolaus says "All's well that ends well" which is also the title of a play by William Shakespeare.