Georgia Brown reprises her role as Worf's foster mother Helena Rozhenko following her first appearance in Family (1990). This was her final appearance and also Brown's final performance as the actress passed away in 1992.
During production, a writer from American Cinematographer magazine visited the set to profile cinematographer Marvin V. Rush, who revealed several tricks of the trade he'd developed for shooting the show. For example, he developed a special eye-light, nicknamed the Worf Light, to make sure Michael Dorn's eyes were visible under his prosthetic make-up. Rush also described the bridge set as a "cameraman's nightmare." All of the reflective surfaces made it extremely difficult to place lights and equipment without them being visible on screen.
"New Ground" was the third and final time that the skull-faced opponent from Worf's holoprogram appears in The Next Generation. A similar holographic character would later appear in Jadzia Dax' Holosuite exercise program in The Way of the Warrior (1995).
This was the first episode showing Brian Bonsall as Worf's son Alexander following Jon Paul Steuer's performance in the episode Reunion (1990). He would reprise this role in six further episodes.
First appearance of the Corvan gilvo, which was designed and created by Michael Westmore and puppeteered by Alison Elbl. It later appeared in The Nagus (1993).