Michael Dorn was pleased with the outcome of this episode as he felt it showed the producers that the fans were just as interested in his character as the others in the main cast. He felt that it could have been taken further and wanted there to be an epic battle at the end of the episode.
While in the engine room, Korris says the following: "I would rather die here than let the traitors of Kling pick the meat from my bones." The writer of that line intended for Kling to be the name of the Klingon homeworld, but was later officially changed to Qo'noS (pronounced KRO-nos) in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), since it was decided that Kling sounded a bit odd. The Star Trek Encyclopedia lists Kling as the name of the First City, but it isn't considered canon since that reference was never in any episode.
The first time a POV from Geordi La Forge's visor is seen, which is displayed as false color imagery.
The story explained Lt. Worf's background for the first time in the series, including the story of Romulan betrayal at Khitomer, which saw the death of his parents. While his foster parents were first mentioned in this episode, they were not seen until Family (1990) and his brother didn't appear on the show until Homeward (1994).
The scenes showing Riker and Data through the visual acuity transmitter were filmed with the photo doubles of Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner, Richard Sarstedt and Ken Gildin.