Both Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe) and S. Epatha Merkerson (Lt. Van Buren) played guest roles before joining the cast. Orbach played a lawyer in the episode "The Wages of Love" in season two, and Merkerson played the mother of a victim in "Mushrooms" in the first season.

Before his transfer to the NYPD, Joe Fontana (played by Dennis Farina) worked as a detective in Chicago. Before becoming an actor, Farina served in the Chicago police department, both as a police officer and a detective. Farina also played a Chicago police officer on the short-lived 1980s TV series Crime Story.

Steven Hill is often credited as an original cast member, even though he did not appear in the pilot.

This is the only episode in which the season's entire credited cast appears together in a scene.

Across the show's seventeen seasons, this is the only two-part episode.

This is Dick Wolf's favorite episode.

When Logan and Briscoe first visit Rudy, the song he plays air guitar to is "Politician" by Cream.

This episode was loosely based upon the murder of Michael Jordan's father, James.

This episode was written by actor Alec Baldwin, who based it upon his own experiences with tabloid reporters.

This episode was inspired by the Steve Bartman incident at the 2003 National League Championship Series.

Episode 19, "Sects." This is based on the true story of Ricky Rodriguez and the start of the episode is almost identical to his final hours. Rodriguez was the son of "Children of God" cult leader Karen Zerby. He decided to exact revenge on his mother for the years of abuse he suffered in the cult as a child. Rodriquez tried to locate his mother through a member of the group and subsequently stabbed her to death. Shortly after murdering the woman, Rodriguez shot himself.