Referenced Rules of Acquisition: #112 ("Never have sex with the boss's sister")
In writer Jim Trombetta's first draft of the teleplay, the A story was the protouniverse story, with Dax's storyline in secondary position. Michael Piller rewrote the episode to place the Trill storyline as the primary plot. Trombetta felt that this decision robbed the episode of its emotional balance and that the ethical problem of the protouniverse story is no longer felt on an emotional level.
Richard Poe makes his first appearance as Gul Evek (not mentioned by name) when the crew tell him through the view screen about their pest problem. The character will later have more prominent roles in episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), and the Star Trek: Voyager (1995) pilot Caretaker (1995).
The chess game played between Sisko and Dax in this episode is recognizable as the famous game D. Byrne vs R. Fischer, 1956 (known as the game of the century). The moves shown on screen are roughly moves 14 to 18.