In one scene, Data tries lean on the non-existent furniture after his conversation with Captain Picard about being fully functional and ends up falling on the floor. This was not in the script but was added by Brent Spiner on the set. Director Paul Lynch was pleased at Brent's idea and left it in the final cut.
Gene Roddenberry had hoped to recycle scripts from the original series with a bigger effects budget. Fan reaction to remakes (and a failure to achieve an early ratings peak) forced him to scrap plans to remake more episodes, at least as openly as in 'The Naked Now' which was a remake of The Naked Time (1966).
This is the only appearance of Lieutenant Commander Sarah MacDougal as Chief Engineer. After this episode, Lieutenant Commander Argyle, Lieutenant Logan, and Lieutenant Commander Leland T. Lynch all served as Chief Engineers of the Enterprise-D. As described by Riker in Where No One Has Gone Before (1987), the Enterprise-D had several chief engineers before Geordi La Forge assumed the position in Season 2.
When Troi heads to Engineering, she refers to Riker as "Bill." This is the first time in the series anyone has called the second-in-command by that particular variation of his first name. Troi later calls him by it again in Haven (1987).
The Tsiolkovsky is named for Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), a Russian/Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautics.