This episode appears to be based on the 1984 Ron Levin murder case. In 1984, Joseph Henry Gamsky, also known as "Joe Hunt," was believed to have murdered Ron Levin, a con artist who had allegedly swindled Hunt and other members of the Billionaire Boys Club (BBC) out of over $4 million. The plot of this episode even includes a scene of Swann's making a note in his planner to commit the murder, just as Joe Hunt had penned "Kill Ron Levin" in his daily agenda. In 1987, Hunt was found guilty of the murder of Levin and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Hunt remains in prison but has maintained his innocence. (The Hunt-Levin case was also the subject of a 1980s telemovie, Billionaire Boys Club (1987))
The Ordovician was a geologic period that spanned 41.2 million years of history and was 485.4-443.8 million years ago. Almost all life on the Earth at this time was marine, the only living organisms on land were plants. Most of the continents were joined together in the southern hemisphere and formed a supercontinent known as Gondwana which included Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, and Australia, as well as the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent, it was the largest landmass in the Earth's history that included 64% of the Earth's landmass equaling 39 million square miles. During the first part of the period global temperatures were much warmer than present day, surface temperatures averaged 35 °F higher and ocean temperatures averaged 113 °F due to carbon dioxide levels being 15 times higher than present day. The last quarter or so of the period consisted of an ice age that caused the second largest mass extinction in history which wiped out 60% of all species that existed at the time.
Zeljko Ivanek has portrayed multiple characters within the Law & Order Universe. He portrays 3 on Law & Order (1990), one of whom is a crossover character from Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) (ASA Ed Danvers) and one on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
- American Dream (1993) - Phillip Swann.
- Baby, It's You (1997) - ASA Ed Danvers.
- Sideshow (1999) - ASA Ed Danvers.
- Gov Love (2004) - Richard Kaplan.
- Taboo (2006) - Everett Drake.
Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Josh Pais (Assistant M.E. Borak) also worked together on We, the Juries (2014) (episode 5.12) and Lonelyville (2007) (episode 7.4).
Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & Bernie McInerney (Judge Michael Callahan) also worked together on Death Row Tip (2011) (episode 3.8) and Wasichu (2006) (episode 5.14).