This is the first episode in which the term "Changeling" is used to describe Odo.
The exterior visuals of the Chamra Vortex are re-used shots of the Mutara Nebula from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), recolored slightly and flipped upside-down.
According to Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Odo's line "I'm a security chief, not a combat pilot" is a tribute to Leonard McCoy's running line in Star Trek: The Original Series, "I'm a doctor, not a...."
Randy Oglesby portrays both of the Miradorn twins. He played several other characters in various Star Trek series, including the Scholar in the TNG episode Loud as a Whisper (1989), Silaran Prin in the DS9 episode The Darkness and the Light (1997), Kir in the VGR episode Counterpoint (1998) and the recurring role of Degra in the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001).
The Miradorn makeup was one of makeup supervisor Michael Westmore's favorite designs from the first season of Deep Space Nine.