This episode contains an infamous scene in which Nyssa drops her skirt. According to the script she was feeling ill and trying to loosen the pressure on her stomach, but this is not clear on screen. In an interview for the book Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years, Sarah Sutton suggests it was deliberate Fan Service:
'I still smile when I remember how the Production Office kept getting letters of complaint about Nyssa being too covered up. So that's why when I left the series in "Terminus" I decided to drop my skirt as a parting gesture to all those fans who had written in.
'Mind you, it caused such a stir at the time, and as I'm still being asked about it when I am interviewed, I'm not sure it was a wise thing to have done!'
'I still smile when I remember how the Production Office kept getting letters of complaint about Nyssa being too covered up. So that's why when I left the series in "Terminus" I decided to drop my skirt as a parting gesture to all those fans who had written in.
'Mind you, it caused such a stir at the time, and as I'm still being asked about it when I am interviewed, I'm not sure it was a wise thing to have done!'
Anthony Valentine, Michael Gothard, Patrick Mower, Del Henney, Patrick Stewart, Paul Darrow, David Warner, Bernard Hill, Tom Chadbon and Nicholas Ball were considered for Valgard.
Sean Arnold, Paul Shelley, Jack Galloway, Jeff Rawle, Ralph Bates, Simon Ward, Christopher Cazenove, Martin Jarvis, Tom Chadbon, Ben Cross, Nicholas Ball, Nigel Havers, Richard Heffer, Patrick Ryecart, and Simon Williams were considered for Eirak.
This episode was watched by 7.5 million viewers on its original transmission.