The song "Earth Angel" by The Penguins is played while Jor-El (Tom Welling) and Louise McCallum (Kristin Kreuk) are in the barn. The song was previously played in Superman III (1983) during the Smallville High School reunion dance attended by Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) and Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole). O'Toole played Martha Kent in Smallville (2001).
The flashback scenes take place from June 15 to June 17, 1961.
In this episode, Jor-El is at the age of 26,[citation needed] the same age as Tom Welling at the start of Season 3. The fact that Jor-El has chosen the Kents to take care of Kal-El was touched upon in 1978 novel Superman: Last Son of Krypton. In the story, set in the late 1940s, Jor-El has sent a probe to Earth to see if was suitable for his son (and to seek out the most brilliant scientific mind on the planet, since Kryptonians placed great store on scientific achievement). The probe was directed to Albert Einstein, who felt he was too old to take care of Kal-El, so he set out to meet honest normal American citizens and came into contact with the Kents, who Einstein felt were ideal caretakers due to their honest and generous natures. Also, for The Man of Steel mini-series, John Byrne originally wanted to have a pregnant Lara sent to Earth, succumbing to kryptonite poisoning; the Kents found her and help deliver her child; before she died, she tells them to watch over her baby. Thus, they were chosen caretakers.
Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider are the only lead actors to appear in the first 50 episodes of the series.
On the door of the Torch office there is a picture of a bird, holding a torch, with a red shield on its front, which has the letter S on it. The bird also has a billowing red cape flying from its neck.