In an interview with afterelton.com, producers David Kohan and Max Mutchnick said that this episode's plot (in which Ed's old Navy buddy turns out to be a homophobe) was inspired by a real on-set incident during the filming of an earlier episode in which a crew member started to say some things that Mutchnick and Kohan characterized as "very anti-gay sentiments" and "really sort of offensive and stunning."