Since Gene Roddenberry had proposed that zippers would no longer exist in the future, they are generally hidden in the clothes worn on and off the Enterprise. However, in this engineered society under the biosphere, perhaps to show their less-than-perfect and less technologically advanced society, zippers are a prominent aspect of their outfits.
The idea for this story passed through six writers altogether. They couldn't figure out how to define a genetically engineered society.
The piano recital played as Deanna Troi strolls with Aaron Conor is Frédéric Chopin's Prelude in E minor.
Ron Canada later appeared in Rules of Engagement (1996) and Juggernaut (1999). Dey Young later appeared in A Simple Investigation (1997) and Two Days and Two Nights (2002). This is John Snyder's second appearance on TNG. The first appearance was in The Enemy (1989). In both of Snyder's appearances, he is present when someone tells Geordi that a blind person like him couldn't exist in their society.
The colony scientist Hannah asks Captain Picard if he would want to live his life in a ship in a bottle. Previously, in Booby Trap (1989) (S3 E6), Picard noted that a starship like the Enterprise is like a ship in a bottle. Having built many in his youth, Picard tells Riker he missed out on playing with models, as Geordie has just finished building a scale model, something Riker admits he has never done.