More than one scene proved problematic for Breezy the Beagle during the filming of the episode, as the decontamination room set was an enclosed four wall set, meaning that in the scene where Archer rubs down Porthos with decontamination gel, Breezy's trainer Scott Rowe couldn't be on the set with her. Normally he would have been behind the camera assisting the director by ensuring the dog is looking wherever the scene required. He hoped that with him off the set, Breezy would look where required and not directly at the camera. In order to prepare for the scene where Porthos leaps out of an immersion tank and into Archer's arms, Rowe had a mock-up created so he could practice it with Breezy. He said that "By the time we went into it on that one day to prep on set with Scott, she was jumping out of it into my arms, but I had to make sure that she's going to jump out and do it into Scott's arms." In the final scene, not only did Breezy leap into Bakula's arms, but she also licked him repeatedly on the face. This wasn't due to training, but because they wiped food on Scott Bakula's face.
In a 2004 interview, John Billingsley nominated this episode as one of his favorites. "I loved working with Scott Bakula. That was the most time we'd had to work together, and that was fun [....] I know people were a little in two minds of that episode. I rather liked that episode."
A couple of shots used a prop Porthos figure; one is shown suspended in the super-hydration tank and another is depicted resting inside the quarantine chamber. These prop dogs were designed and constructed by Joel Harlow.
There were two Beagles portraying Porthos, who were supplied by Performing Animal Troupe, an animal supply company for film and television. These dogs included a female Beagle called Breezy the Beagle, who was the main dog actor who played Porthos during season two. Breezy was the original double for male dog actor Prada who appeared in the first season up until Two Days and Two Nights (2002), when Breezy became the main dog.
This was intended to be a low-cost episode as the majority of scenes required only the use of the standing sets for the series.