Having the Grey Hulk trying to get rid of Bruce Banner by making a deal with the Leader was a plot twist from Peter David's run on the comic book.
The Grey Hulk has a slightly different design in this episode than he had in his brief appearances in Season 1 ( in the flashback The Return of the Beast: Part 1 (1996) and at the end of Darkness and Light: Part 3 (1996). The original Grey Hulk design in Season 1 was very close to the design from the comic books with a bowl haircut and the shape of his cranium which was specifically based on the artwork of Todd McFarlane. In Season 2, Grey Hulk was re-designed with new hairstyle and a more proportioned cranium. The new design was more in line of what the UPN executive in charge of the show wanted.
This is the first episode to give Grey Hulk a prominent role and the first to give him a proper voice which is preformed by Michael Donovan. Although he is prominently featured in Season 2, his role was reduced from what the original creative team had planned for Season 2. The original plan for Season 2 was to feature a storyline that was closer to what Peter David had done in the comics for Grey Hulk.
Bruce Banner is shown to transform into Grey Hulk during times of anger and stress just as he does when changing into the green Hulk. In the comics, Banner would transform into Grey Hulk at night and back to his human self during the day.
This episode is loosely based on "The Incredible Hulk" (Vol. 1) #331-332 by Peter David and Todd McFarlane. The whole plot that heavily focused on the Teenage-Hulk Rick Jones turned into from "The Incredible Hulk" (Vol.1) #325-330 by Al Milgrom was largely ignored.