In the scene where the Trill symbionts are shown in the pool, David Livingston commented, "We built a little pool area on Stage Eighteen. It was fun trying figure out how to not make these things mechanical because it always looks cheesy. The idea is to shoot it like you'd do Jaws (1975) or Alien (1979). You want to shoot it in a lot of shadows and make it go by real fast. I think it was pretty successful."
This is the first episode to reveal that Sisko is from New Orleans and that his father runs a restaurant there. It is also the first to feature the Trill home world, and to show that Jadzia's spots do go down to her feet. They can be seen briefly in shots of her on the hospital bed.
This was also the first episode to establish that the Trill have surnames, which are replaced by the symbiont's name upon joining. Jadzia's original surname was never given during the series (nor was Curzon's or any of the hosts that preceded Joran), though Ezri's was revealed in Prodigal Daughter (1999) to be Tigan.
This episode marks the only time in the series that the USS Defiant doesn't depart the station from the docking ring; when the ship leaves the station, it is shown undocking from an upper pylon.
This episode features a number of changes to the style of the USS Defiant's bridge, including a new Captain's chair area (no fencing and new consoles), movement of the dedication plaque from the back to beside the starboard door, more consoles in the rear and additional consoles on the walls of the side stations.