When the rescue ship from Earth arrives, several colonists ask about various places on Earth during a meeting between the ship's crew and the colonists. One of the questions is about the Finger Lake District of New York. This area had a special significance to script writer Rod Serling. It is located close to his home town of Binghamton, he and his family vacationed there frequently, and Serling named his company that produced "The Twilight Zone," Cayuga Productions, after one of the lakes. He later taught at Ithaca College for the last five years before his death.
The striking diorama backgrounds of the planet, the model and the large-scale prop of the rescue ship sent to bring the colonists home, and the uniforms of the rescue crew were all originally created for Forbidden Planet (1956). This was a recurring feature on "The Twilight Zone" which was frequently filmed at MGM Studios, and often prominently featured recycled props and set pieces from "Forbidden Planet". The previous episode, "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" featured copies of the original blueprints of designs for Robby the Robot, created by MGM production designer Robert Kinoshita.
The cave that the colonists use as their meeting hall was originally the underground lair of the Morlocks in The Time Machine (1960).
This episode takes place in 2021.
Sound effects inside the ship are the same as the ones on the bridge of the Enterprise from the original Star Trek (1966) series.