The burglar's bizarre behavior seems to be a toned-down reference to real-life serial killer Richard Trenton Chase, nicknamed the "Vampire of Sacramento," who would frequently eat raw animal meat and drink their blood, and went to strange lengths to prevent his heart from stopping or shrinking. In the show, one of the burglar's last lines is to ask for tinfoil to protect his heart.
The house the cat burglar enters in the opening sequence appears to be the same one where Crockett and Castillo finish off the Home Invader case, and the one he is caught in is the same (though lit differently) as Brenda's house in Nobody Lives Forever (1985). This house is located at 3840 Utopia Court, Miami, FL, USA.
In the final confrontation, the woman being threatened cannot tell whether the Shadow or Crockett is the attacker, resulting in his reassurance, to himself as much as her, "I'm a cop... I'm a cop." As with many episodes, Sonny is left emotionally shattered. The psychological consequences of this particular walk on the dark side are particularly noticeable in that Sonny's nightmares continue after the Shadow is captured.
While there is clearly an actor playing the role of copycat burglar "Lido Starr", there appears to be no credit to this actor's name. This actor was clearly on-screen and had dialogue (with his police interrogators as Crockett, Tubbs & Capt. Cahill observing, as Starr was insistent on the correct spelling of his name), which normally constitutes an acting credit however small. Yet it still appears to be unknown who this actor was who played this role in what was an important scene.
This episode was filmed and intended to air before Stone's War (1986), but because of the story and dark tone of this episode the network decided it would be appropriate for a Halloween night broadcast. This also explains Crockett's lack of a car, as this was intended to be shown after the Daytona was blown up but before he received the Testarossa.