To combat the problem of new viewers not understanding what was going on (a massive ship with only Lister, Rimmer and the Cat aboard), Holly's opening SOS message was introduced with him delivering a different witty remark at the end.
The Skutters (described as "roving shoe boxes" in the script) were radio-controlled props. After performing perfectly in rehearsals, during filming one skutter got radio interference from a nearby taxi company, causing it to go haywire and it attacked Chris Barrie in the groin. The skutter performing the derogatory hand gesture to Rimmer was a actually a "skutter glove".
As noted in the cast commentary on the Series I DVD, Craig Charles said that the bucket the vending machine threw out hit him on the toe, and his foot hurt for the rest of the series.
Originally this episode was number four in the series but was switched to second because the producers felt that it was the best episode to really introduce the sci-fi aspects of the show.
This is the first episode to deal with matters of time travel and changing future and past events, a theory which will be used again in several more episodes: Stasis Leak (1988), Backwards (1989), Timeslides (1989), White Hole (1991), The Inquisitor (1992), Out of Time (1993), Tikka to Ride (1997), Ouroboros (1997), Cassandra (1999), Lemons (2012), Twentica (2016), and Skipper (2017)