This episode, and the next one, Pilot: Part 2 (1988), originally aired as a TV movie. The producers of the series later edited the film into episodes of the show.
Virgil drives a blue 1978 Ford LTD. However, for the rest of the first season he drove a 1987 Ford Taurus, because the show had a contract with Ford. Beginning in season 2, Virgil's blue car would become a 1985 Dodge Diplomat which was used for the rest of the series, until Howard Rollins left the show. The car was then repainted tan during the final season and added to Sparta's undercover unit. It was last seen going into the lake in the episode "By Duty Bound"
Margaret Blye plays the girlfriend of Carroll O'Connor. 21 years earlier in Waterhole #3 (1967), she played his daughter, which was fitting due to the her being 18 years younger than O'Connor.