Dr John Kellogg (1852-1943) and his brother Will (1860-1951) accidentally invented corn flakes in 1894 at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. They received a patent for it on 14 April 1896, about 10 years before this episode was set; in 1906, they founded what would become Kellogg Company. Will wanted to keep the process secret, but John allowed anyone in the sanitarium to observe. C.W. Post (1854-1914), a sanitarium guest, copied the process after he started his own cereal company; in 1895, he founded what would become Post Cereals, and later General Foods.
The beginning set-up appears directly derived from another Canadian TV series, Love You to Death (1993), episode which starts exactly the same way: with a beautiful woman sitting in a park, on a bench, in a very similar position. As it is soon revealed at the end of both intros, both women are very dead.
When Inspector Slorach answers the phone he says, "can you hear me now?" a reference to the modern Verizon Wireless commercials.
Brothers John and Will Kellogg, born 8 years apart, each lived to be 91 years old.
Colin Mockerie's second appearance in the series as Ralph Fellows. His first was in S11:Ep.3, "8 Steps".