Due to the episode airing on Thanksgiving in the United States, the rating was below the season's average at 1.24, making it the lowest rated episode of the series. Writers Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming now hold the distinction of writing both the highest rated episode, Route 666 (2006), and the lowest rated in the series' history.
"Duma" (Aramaic for "silence") is an angel mentioned in Rabbinical literature. In Jewish mythology he is the tutelary angel of Egypt, prince of Hell, and angel of vindication, having "tens of thousands of angels of destruction" under him, all charged with the punishment of the souls of sinners. According to Genesis 25:14, Duma is also the name of the sixth son of Ishamel, son of Abraham.
The episode title is a reference to the H. G. Wells novel by the same name.