Colin Baker named this as his favourite episode of the series, highlighting the "Everybody Lives" scene as his favourite moment.
Bad Wolf Reference: Although you can barely see it, the bomb that Jack catches in the tractor beam has "Schlechter Wolf" written on its side. Schlechter Wolf means Bad Wolf in German.
According to Steven Moffat, the sonic blaster used by Jack to blast open the door is destined to be kept in the TARDIS for River Song to find, so that she can use it in Forest of the Dead (2008).
Captain Jack, introduced in the first series, was the first openly non-heterosexual character in the history of televised Doctor Who. A homosexual subplot suggested by Ian Briggs between two characters in the 1989 serial "The Curse of Fenric" had been vetoed as unsuitable for a family audience.
When Nancy approaches the crashed ship and cuts the barbed-wire fence, the score features the brisk string motif that would become the featured motif in the theme to Torchwood (2006).