The USS Brattain was named after Walter Houser Brattain, an American physicist, who, along with John Bardeen and William Shockley, invented the transistor.
Marina Sirtis recalls that the terrified look on her face while Troi is traveling in the dream was genuine. She is acrophobic (afraid of heights) and, as a result, was very uncomfortable while fifteen feet above the ground, attached to wires.
The explosion of the "rift" is reused footage of the explosion of the Genesis Device from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
Brian Tochi, who played ensign Kenny Lin, previously played Ray Tsing Tao in And the Children Shall Lead (1968).
A room is finally seen behind a seldom used sickbay door that doesn't lead to a corridor or the medical lab. Right after the teaser, Picard and Crusher leave this room, which seems to be the morgue, and enter the main sickbay room.