Captain Jellico orders Deanna Troi to wear a proper Starfleet uniform. Even after Jellico's departure, Troi continued to wear this uniform for the rest of the series. This delighted Marina Sirtis, as the uniform reminds the audience that she is, in fact, an officer with command authority. As for fans, the general consensus was widespread approval for this change with the general agreement that Troi looked great in uniform.
When he takes command, Jellico demands that the pet fish be taken out of Picard's ready room. Patrick Stewart had frequently complained that for Picard to have captive fish went against his, and the series', philosophy of dignity for all living things. This script gave the writers a way to get rid of the pet fish, but it returned after Picard was reinstated as captain.
In 2012, Michael Dorn related a story about the production of this episode to the cast of The Next Generation at the Calgary Expo. During shooting while he, Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden were working in the tunnels of the set for Celtris III at Paramount Stage 16, Dorn and Stewart started laughing uncontrollably. There were many stray cats roaming around Paramount Pictures and as the set was covered with sand, they frequently used it for cat litter. Dorn asked Stewart what he was laughing about and he said, "I don't know how I got here. I was at a seminar at Santa Barbara, the next thing I know, I'm crawling around in cat shit!".
This episode was intended to establish the Cardassians as the main villains of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), about to begin its run. Ronald D. Moore, the writer, would become senior writer on DS9 when ST:TNG ended.
The producers wanted to establish Jellico as a more by-the-book Captain than Picard through subtle differences. Whenever he enters the bridge, a member of the crew announces his arrival. He insists on crew members wearing full uniform whenever they are on duty. And where Picard says "Make it so", Jellico has a catchphrase of his own, the less friendly "Get it done".