Wax from a blue candle was used to represent the dilithium pieces.
The Hathaway's main bridge is a minor redress of the Enterprise-D's battle bridge, last seen in The Arsenal of Freedom (1988). The original battle bridge set was itself a redress of Kirk's Enterprise bridge, from the first three Star Trek films, and had previously served, with some subtle differences, as the Stargazer's bridge in The Battle (1987).
Armin Shimerman, later Quark of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), plays the commander of the Ferengi vessel.
The premise of the obsolete USS Hathaway being pitted against the state-of-the-art USS Enterprise is reminiscent of several war game exercises run by the United States Navy and NATO allies during and after the Cold War. The exercises have typically involved antiquated diesel submarines being tasked with infiltrating allied defenses while being hunted by modern weapon systems.
The footage of the USS Enterprise-D towing the USS Hathaway is recycled from The Battle (1987) in which the ship in tow was the Stargazer. In both episodes, the Ferengi had an interest in a Constellation-class vessel.