This is the only episode where Hoshi Sato is seen in command of Enterprise NX-01 during a mission.
The Carl Sagan Memorial Station plaque was the final piece of art design Michael Okuda created for the Star Trek franchise.
When the shuttlecraft comes in to land, there is a brief shot of a monument dedicated to Carl Sagan. Sagan was a renowned scientist, specifically an astronomer.
Ambassador Thoris was originally intended to be Shran, but the producers decided they wanted him in These Are the Voyages... (2005) instead. They consequently wrote him out of this episode's script.
This episode was the final one for which Jay Chattaway, a veteran Star Trek composer, scored the music. More than three-fourths of the musicians who performed on this episode's score were the same as those on Chattaway's first Star Trek score, for Tin Man (1990).