The episode was filmed earlier in the season and then "held back" for later airing. The "no trick photography" voiceover during the opening credits isn't present, and Todd Crespi is credited even though he was removed from the show several episodes earlier.
Disguising himself as a doctor was nothing new for Christopher Stone (Gary Allman). Just a couple years earlier he starred as Dr. Pooch Hardin in the one-season medical drama The Interns (1970).