President Roslin's giggle fits prior to the debate were quite genuine. Just prior to shooting the initial scenes, Edward James Olmos had said something privately to Mary McDonnell that she found to be hilarious, and she could not get it out of her head, so every time McDonnell thought of it, she couldn't help but laugh. The director decided to integrate it into the episode as a quirk of President Roslin's going back to her days in high school.
Opening credits say there are 49,579 human survivors.
Starbuck is carrying a Heckler and Koch G36 rifle during the rescue mission.