Struan & Company was modelled after Hong Kong-based trading company Jardine-Matheson. The exterior shots of the Struan & Company building are actually Jardine House.
John Rhys-Davies (Quillan Gornt) played Vasco Rodrigues in Shogun (1980). Additionally, Damien Thomas (Lando Mata), Leon Lissek (Christian Toxe) and George Innes (Alexi Travkin) were also in Shogun (1980), playing Father Alvito, Father Sebastio and Vinck respectively. Both of the miniseries are based on novels by James Clavell and part of his "Asian Cycle".
On 30 October 1971, a 4-alarm fire occurred at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant before its opening which left 34 dead and 42 injured. The British miniseries Noble House shows the compound being destroyed by a fire.
John Rhys-Davies worked with three James Bonds. Pierce Brosnan in this miniseries, Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights (1987) and Sir Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
Pierce Brosnan (Ian Struan Dunross ) and Julia Nickson ( Orlanda Ramos), who have very few scenes in this series, would go onto play the leads in the TV mini-series Around the World in 80 Days that came out a year later in 1989.