The mother-in-law of Colin Welland, who wrote the play, was involved in the real-life strike. Many of the people who had taken part in the strike appeared as extras in the crowd scenes.
Colin Welland originally wrote the play for Granada TV (part of the ITV network). But they couldn't afford the production costs, so a year later the BBC (a rival company) took it over. Having filmed it, it then took the BBC a further year to decide to show it.
This episode takes place in 1970.
The merits of the play were discussed in Leeds United! (1974) - there presenter William Hardcastle cites that the play had a budget of £150,000, "the most expensive single play ever made by the BBC."
(Around £1.35 million by 2023 standards.)