This was Charlie Barnett's only season 2 appearance as "Noogie" Lamont, though he was mentioned in passing in Buddies (1985) when his wife, Ample Annie, speaks to Crockett and Tubbs. Allegedly, Don Johnson refused to do scenes with Barnett following a drug-fueled rage, essentially banning him from the set. Barnett would appear one final time in Missing Hours (1987).
This episode was originally supposed to be a sequel to Smuggler's Blues (1985) featuring Glenn Frey reprising his character Jimmy Cole. However, when Frey was unavailable for filming the script was changed to feature a smuggler friend of his who had taken over Cole's hangar and knew all about "Burnett and Cooper".
Tommy Chong's long time partner, Cheech Marin, would co-star with Don Johnson on Nash Bridges (1996). Chong and Philip Michael Thomas would guest star on the show.
Richard Belzer is the third Miami Vice guest star who would go on to play a significant role in one of the several iterations of the now-equally-iconic Law & Order franchise, which also would air on NBC. The other two are Dennis Farina, who played crime boss Albert Lombard in 3 episodes of Miami Vice (One Eyed Jack S1E6; Lombard S1E22; World of Trouble S5E18), and then, Eric Bogosian, who played a not-so-major role in the season one episode (Milk Run S1E12). Countless other MV guest stars would go on to also guest star on L&O, as well.