This is the first time a bat'leth is seen, mentioned or named. In subsequent episodes and spin-offs, this becomes a major part of Klingon culture.
Jonathan Frakes came to observe that Jon Paul Steuer came off as too shy for a young Klingon, and speculates this to be a primary reason for the eventual recasting of Alexander.
Suzie Plakson, who played K'Ehleyr, also played Dr. Selar, as well as a female Q on Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and Tarah on Star Trek: Enterprise (2001).
This is the only episode in which Alexander Rozhenko is played by Jon Paul Steuer. In all subsequent episodes of TNG, the young Alexander was played by Brian Bonsall. James Sloyan played a future version of him in Firstborn (1994), and Marc Worden played him in DS9: "Sons and Daughters" and "You Are Cordially Invited".
The Vor'cha class Klingon cruiser that makes its debut in this episode was designed by Rick Sternbach. He wanted to pay homage to the original Klingon cruiser design by Walter M. Jefferies, but also show some Starfleet influences in the design, since the Klingons and the Federation were now allies, and presumably shared technology. He stipulated that the Vor'cha would be about three quarters the size of a Galaxy class starship. So when Gregory Jein supervised construction of the studio model, he made it three feet long - precisely 3/4 the length of the newly constructed Enterprise D studio model. This is one of the few occasions when studio models were actually built to scale with one another.