One of J.G. Hertzler's (Martok) favorite episodes. In fact he thought it had the best script he had ever read on the show. He loved the way Martok gets to show a spiteful, vindictive side - one we don't often see in the honorable Klingon warrior.
Writer Ronald D. Moore based the rivalry between Martok and Kor on class issues mainly due to how each actor had portrayed his respective character in the past, Kor as an aristocrat and Martok as a common soldier who had worked his way through the ranks.
As is hinted at in the conversation between O'Brien and Bashir in the teaser, this episode is based on the legend of Davy Crockett and the Battle of the Alamo.
The blood wine that Kor and Worf drink is "2309," the same vintage that Nog "acquired" for Martok in the previous episode, Treachery, Faith and the Great River (1998). Martok later shares the same vintage with Gowron in When It Rains... (1999) and with Sisko and Admiral Ross in What You Leave Behind (1999).
Armin Shimerman sees this episode as setting up his character for the rest of the season: "For the most part, the season is about Quark either mourning Jadzia or pursuing Ezri".