First Star Trek TV episode to be directed by an actor from the show (Jonathan Frakes/Commander Riker). Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner had both previously directed Star Trek movies.
William Riker appears only minimally (one short scene) so Jonathan Frakes could spend more time directing behind the camera.
Whoopi Goldberg successfully fought to change a line of her dialog in the scene when Guinan was teaching Lal the facts of life from "when a man loves a woman" to "when two people are in love", thereby further reinforcing the belief that in the 24th century, a person's sexual orientation is unimportant.
The lift in the science laboratory was later reused in the chamber of the Borg Queen in Dark Frontier (1999)/Dark Frontier (1999).
First of only two episodes of the TNG series to feature an Andorian. Though it is only a hologram - a potential skin template for the android Lal, this Andorian uniquely (and incorrectly) has green hair and skin, while every other Andorian ever seen in any Star Trek series has blue skin and white hair.