After the first jump, LaForge says that the Enterprise has traveled a distance of 2.7 million light years, ending up on the far side of the Triangulum galaxy, a.k.a. M-33. The distance to M-33 was very uncertain at the time this episode was made, with estimates varying between 2 and 3 million light years. Interestingly, the best modern estimates are indeed concentrated around 2.7-2.8 million light years.
Producer Robert H. Justman said that hiring 27-year-old Rob Bowman to direct this segment was one of his proudest achievements on the show. Bowman was terrified, trying to make a good impression on his first assignment, and overcome any doubts of his youth.
This episode marks the debut of Rob Bowman as a Trek director. He later went on to direct twelve more episodes of The Next Generation.
Rob Bowman remembers, "It was a very enlightening script, the likes of which you don't very often see on television. I felt very fortunate that it was such a great script, but, personally, I was terrified because it was my first episode and I wanted to make a good impression. I worked on that show every day I had the script, which, including the shooting, was like 20 days for me."