After season 5, Steven Bochco had been fired from the series. There were rumors that there would be major cast changes. In the opening scene, there is a role call with a different role call sergeant and different officers, leading the viewer to believe that the whole cast had been replaced. However, it is soon revealed that this group is the never seen before night shift and the familiar cast members begin to appear.
Barbara Bosson, Robert Hirschfeld, Ken Olin, Mimi Kuzyk and René Enríquez had all departed as full-time cast members. With the exception of Robert Hirschfeld, they all made guest appearances during the sixth season.
Unlike the normal morning to night format which defined the series, this episode starts at night and ends with the morning role call.
Belker (Bruce Weitz)spent the past 5 seasons talking to his "Ma" on the phone from his desk and we finally get to meet her in this episode albeit deceased.
The story arc where Goldbloom is taken hostage was based on a real incident in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985. A housing complex was occupied by a radical group called MOVE, which was the model for the SOIL colony in this episode. In the real-life incident, the Philadelphia Police attempted to resolve the stalemate by dropping two improvised explosive devices from a police helicopter onto the roof of the structure. This caused a fire that left over 250 people homeless and 11 dead. The incident has become a cautionary tale of how not to manage a barricaded suspect incident.