Series developer and producer Allan Balter died of complications from a heart attack during the early stages of production.
This was actually the pilot episode, although it was the last episode ever aired. In it, Matthew Star was named "David Starr," and Walt Shepherd was named "Max," and played by Gerald O'Loughlin.
This was the first pilot shot for "The Powers of Matthew Starr" and used a somewhat different concept for the series - for example, the Walter Shepherd character, Starr's mentor, did not exist. The second pilot, with Lou Gossett as Shepherd, aired as the first episode in the series and was used as a template for subsequent episodes.
Amy de Souza, who played the "Little Girl," was the daughter of writer and series creator, Steven de Souza.