The story of the fire in La Forge's childhood was originally conceived for the following week's Violations (1992) but was judged better for this story.
It was during the filming of this episode that the cast and crew learned of the death of creator Gene Roddenberry. It had a powerful impact on everyone, especially Marina Sirtis, because her father had passed away exactly ten years before.
Patrick Stewart, who plays Captain Picard, directed this episode and several others, including In Theory (1991), A Fistful of Datas (1992), Phantasms (1993), and Preemptive Strike (1994).
A scene near the end shows the children in a room singing "Row Row Row Your Boat", along with an unseen adult. The voice of the adult singer is actually not Brent Spiner. Note: the adult singer is not unseen. The adult is sitting behind the child who is the focus of the scene and is clearly visible and clearly singing.