Fajo's lapling was a hand puppet created by Michael Westmore. Producer David Livingston recalled, "It was this little creature that Saul Rubinek went up to and said 'bidi-bidi-bidi.' That was his call to the creature and that became a running gag. People on the set continued say 'bidi-bidi-bidi" long after this episode. "Bidi Bidi bidi" is obviously a reference to the sound made by the robot character Twiki from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), which was voiced by Mel Blanc.
This episode features a shuttlepod Pike, named after Christopher Pike, second captain of the USS Enterprise.
David Rappaport was to have played Kivas Fajo but attempted suicide a few days into filming. He was replaced by Saul Rubinek and Rappaport's scenes were refilmed. Rappaport committed suicide two months later. The footage featuring Rappaport can be seen on disc five of the season three blu-ray release under the episode menu.
The last-minute emergency casting of Saul Rubinek was largely a result of chance. Director Timothy Bond had known Rubinek from school, and when in Los Angeles to work on The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Rubinek asked Bond if he could visit the sets. Bond agreed to arrange a visit knowing that Rubinek was a Star Trek (1966) fan. In the process, Bond persuaded Rubinek, who hadn't done any TV guest roles at the time, to take the part of Kivas Fajo.
Kivas Fajo's makeup was originally more elaborate. The character had a clearly alien appearance with long Vulcan-esque ears and a brownish purple skin tone. The change was necessitated due to time constraints after the original actor, David Rappaport attempted suicide and Fajo was recast midway through filming.