The title of this episode is Nowhere Man. A John Lennon song. He was killed in the Strawberry Fields next to the John Lennon Imagine memorial in New York Cities' Central Park.
When Detective Lennie Briscoe and Detective Ed Green are looking through the victim's papers, Lennie talks about the length of time needed to graduate law school, and that he had considered it. Green said he would have made a heck of a shyster. When Jerry Orbach first appeared in The Wages of Love (1991), he played a defense attorney.
This episode appears to be based on the 2003 murder of Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan Luna.
Peter McRobbie plays Judge Walter Bradley in this, and 13 other episodes. Previously, he played the part of four other characters:
- Episode 1.21 Sonata for Solo Organ (1991) - Manager.
- Episode 3.9 Point of View (1992) - John Ennis.
- Episode 5.11 Guardian (1995) - Herbert Fowler.
- Episode 8.23 Tabloid (1998) - Dr. Thomas Neustadt.
- Episode 11.9 Hubris (2001) onwards - Judge Walter Bradley.
When Briscoe and Green are questioning the newspaper shop steward, two vans are seen with the newspaper name "New York Ledger". It was an actual weekly story newspaper from 1855 to 1897, until a steady decline caused it to switch to monthly in 1898. It ceased publication in 1903.
Michael Bloomberg: The mayor of New York City is holding press conferences near the beginning and end of the episode.