It has been estimated that 55 deaths occur on screen in this serial.
The repair to the Chameleon Circuit was in part a publicity effort by John Nathan-Turner to drum up more interest in the series. He hinted publicly that it might be a permanent development, but never pursued the idea beyond this story.
Nicola Bryant was uncomfortable wearing her tight pink leotard on location because it was very cold but producer John Nathan-Turner thought it would be appreciated by the men in the audience.
This story introduced the Sixth Doctor's spiritual equivalent of the sonic screwdriver, a portable sonic lance, after the screwdriver had been written out in The Visitation: Part Three (1982).
This is one of the Doctor Who (1963) stories most often criticized for excessive and inappropriate violence by reviewers (in a season that was also criticized for its violence by the controller of BBC One at the time). Despite this, when the story was released on VHS and DVD, it was given a Universal certificate, meaning that anyone could watch it.