Edward Asner plays a character he originally played over 36 years ago on the original Hawaii Five-O (1968).
At the end of this episode tribute it paid to Rose Freeman. Rose was the widow of original series creator and executive producer, Leonard Freeman. Without her consent the reboot of the series would not have been possible. Rose Freeman also did some acting in her day under the name Joan Taylor.
The season 2 box set gag reel shows that a prank was played on Alex O'Loughlin during the birthday cake scene: a makeup person distracted him while Grace Park sprinkled salt on the piece of cake that he was about to eat on camera.
Ed Asner did reprise his role of August March from the original Hawaii Five O Season 8 Episode 14 from 1975.
First episode to feature Edward Asner as August March on the rebooted show.