This is the first episode that would quickly become known as being a "Flynn & Provenza episode" that mixed solving a crime while at the same time capitalizing on the more comic antics of the characters Lt. Louis Provenza and detective Andy Flynn. Due to the popularity of those two in this episode, the writers wrote at least one "Flynn & Provenza" episode each season.
A Closer in-joke was born in this episode: the line of dialogue, "With me, with me, with me!" which Brenda or Pope use when rather urgently summoning an underling.
The first show in which Brenda Leigh is not tempted by, or eats, a sweet.
The baseball game that Provenza and Flynn were headed to was the Los Angeles Dodgers versus the San Francisco Giants. This is one of the oldest, and most intense, rivalries in professional baseball, dating back to the time when both teams played in New York, also now reflecting the rivalry between the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
As a little in-joke, the cast names rise and fall with the opening of Provenza's garage door.