This is the first episode where Benson and Stabler make physical contact (they hug) other than a rub on the shoulders or a crime scene reenactment.
Korey Jackson (Gilbert Matthews) also played the role of Brian in episode 16.8, Spousal Privilege (2014).
Elliot hugging Olivia in the denouement wasn't scripted. Christopher Meloni was certain it was the correct thing for the characters to do, and voiced this to episode director Kate Woods during the blocking of the hospital scenes, who quickly agreed. For her part, even though she knew it was coming, Mariska Hargitay felt that Meloni made unexpected choices in the scene that gave the hug and her part in it a spontaneity and realism it might have otherwise lacked. Meloni thought that the hug worked even better than he imagined it would, attributing it to sureness of purpose for himself and his character.