It has often been pointed out that Nog, a commissioned officer, outranked the entire cadet crew of the Valiant and should have assumed command when he arrived. Ronald D. Moore explained his rationale for the command structure in an AOL chat: "I decided to go with a somewhat older idea that a lawfully designated commanding officer cannot be removed from command except by someone of flag rank. (I'm over-simplifying this idea, but this is roughly the way that things worked in the 18th-19th century Royal Navy.) Captain Watters was given a valid commission and had held his command for eight months. It didn't seem like I was stretching things too far to allow him to continue in that role when Nog arrived - and remember that Nog was also commissioned as a young cadet who hadn't even been at the Academy for as long as Watters".
"Valiant" was the original intended name for the Defiant, but development of Star Trek: Voyager (1995) saw a directive handed down from executives that DS9's starship couldn't have a name that began with V too, as they were concerned about causing confusion for the audience.
This episode is a favorite of Aron Eisenberg's, who sees it was critical in the development of the character of Nog.
New Starfleet Cadet uniforms are introduced in this episode.