The moment where Bernard's briefcase opens up and spills his files on the station platform was unscripted, but left in the episode anyway due to the creators feeling it was a good fit for his character. While Derek Fowlds actually swore out loud during the take, it was allowed to remain in the episode, as it was largely inaudible over the sound of the trains.
According to the writers, the scene in the train compartment was inspired by the stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers' movie A Night at the Opera (1935) and used just as a comic device. However, soon after the episode had aired, they were informed that similar incidents had occurred in real life with Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who liked to travel by train. Some thought it had been based directly on Wilson's trip back to London from a Labour Party conference in Blackpool during the Rhodesia crisis in 1965. Many advisors crowded into his compartment due to continuing revisions to the policy for handling the crisis.
While on the train to Scotland, Jim has all the cabinet flunkeys and the Foreign secretary in his compartment. On the wall over Jim's shoulder is a notice attached to the wall with the instructions in case of fire, fire alarm etc. While the headings are in English, the instructions under each heading are gibberish.
There is a curiously clumsy and out of character joke (for this series) when Sir Humphrey refers to the new Burandan leader as an "enigma" and Hacker angrily objects to the word, after he mishears, thinking he has used an extreme racial slur. The studio audience's response and laughter is notably muted and awkward, as they seem unsure how to react.