After the broadcast in the UK, a special announcement broadcasting a suicide prevention number was made.
Bill Nighy had previously been rumoured as a candidate for the Ninth or Tenth Doctors. He joked that he lost the latter because David Tennant was better looking.
The self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh is not an exact replica; it is altered slightly to resemble Tony Curran, the actor who plays Vincent. This painting would later show up as an image in an historical archive in Smile (2017).
The producers have stated that they cast someone as high profile as Bill Nighy for such a small part was because they needed the audience to listen to what the character said (which in this case were important biographical information about Vincent).
Richard Curtis' preferred title for the adventure was Eyes That See the Darkness. It drew upon the description of van Gogh as having "eyes that know the darkness in my soul" in Don McLeod's 1971 song Vincent, which was itself inspired by Starry Night. Steven Moffat, however, preferred a less abstruse title.