The exteriors in this episode were shot in Bronson Canyon, but the weather was so cold that a number of scheduled shots were never completed, and were instead rewritten so they could be filmed in the studio. Indeed, so many shots were dropped that the crew ended up with some free time while at the canyon, so they went into the real caves at the canyon and shot the cave scenes scheduled for shooting in the studio.
An early idea for this episode was to have a museum on Bajor reopened to protests from Shakaar and others who believed it would be better to use the resources to feed the Bajoran people. No one was happy with the state of the screenplay however until Ronald D. Moore came up with the idea that Kai Winn could attempt to become political leader of Bajor, as well as its spiritual leader. This injected some much needed conflict into the plot, and everything else fell into place after that.
Director Jonathan West describes Shakaar as "a good leader and a good killer," and he explains that while filming, "we had to give him that edge."
The silver desk prop on Winn's desk is the same prop used on Dr Evils conference table in Austin Powers.