Writer and producer Carlton Cuse considers this the worst episode of the series because of the flashback scenes. He admitted that by that time the writers didn't know what else to tell about Jack's past and just used Fox's real tattoos as inspiration.
The kite is an authentic Thai kite master's signature piece. The swirl patterns were modeled after Van Gogh's 'Starry Night'. The kite itself is named "Starbird" and was created by Buteo Huang.
In the opening scene Sawyer is singing "Show Me the Way to go Home." The same song was sung by Brody, Quint and Hooper aboard The Orca in Jaws (1975) while hunting the shark.
Jack's tattoo is actually a real tattoo on actor Matthew Fox and means "Eagles cleave the air" in Chinese. The characters are pronounced "ying ji chang kong" (in Pinyin) and are taken from a famous poem written by Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zhedong).