First episode to feature Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor), Paul Lieberstein (Toby Flenderson) and Kate Flannery (Meredith Palmer).
NBC webcasted this episode on March 16, 2005 on MySpace to promote the show's then-upcoming premiere. This was NBC's first-ever online debut of a complete episode of a network series, and also included a trimmed-down webisode version of the episode for on-demand viewing on MySpace the following day.
Tom Huang, who worked as a writers' assistant on the show, suggested the idea of the employees putting cards with ethnicities on their heads. This was based on a real-life experience of his.
As part of Diversity Day's B story involving Jim's failed attempt to secure a major sale, show creator Greg Daniels suggested as a broad general idea that Jim should have a nice quiet moment with Pam and listed some ways to achieve this. One idea Daniels put down was for Jim and Pam to both be in the conference room during Michael Scott's presentation and for a tired Pam to rest her head on Jim's shoulder, making him visibly happy. To Daniels' amusement, episode writer BJ Novak immediately took this specific example and wrote it into the final shooting script.
B.J. Novak received a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Screenplay - Episodic Comedy for his work on this episode.