Dedicated to Lisa Banes who played Speria Balask in this episode. She died in June 2021 after a traffic accident.
Talla Keyali is promoted to Lt. Commander, making her the first member of the Orville crew to receive a promotion since the first season. As such, the title sequence, introduced its modified version only 3 episodes earlier, is updated to reflect the character's new rank. The rank change actually appears in the opening titles before it is revealed in the body of the episode via dialogue and a uniform update.
Bruce Boxleitner plays President of the Planetary Union. On Babylon 5 (1993) his character ended up similarly President of the Interstellar Alliance.
Ed says "Battle plans are only perfect until the fighting starts". This paraphrases Prussian General Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. Variations of "no plan survives contact with the enemy" have been attributed to many leaders over the years. Even Mike Tyson weighed in with "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
Admiral Halsey (Victor Garber) is in the audience of the "Annie" performance. Victor Garber is well known for starring as Daddy Warbucks in the 1999 TV version of Annie (1999).