This episode features two actors who almost got the opportunity to portray Marshal Dillon. Howard Culver (who played the part of the hotel clerk) provided Matt's voice for the original 1949 pilot episode of the radio version of "Gunsmoke." The permanent role of Matt in the radio series eventually went to William Conrad. Denver Pyle (who played the part of Hank Shinn) was nearly cast as Matt when CBS developed the show for television in 1955. He told an interviewer years later that he had been instructed to go ahead and get fitted for his wardrobe because "...we've got just one more actor left to test, and he's so tall that we don't think he's going to test very well." Of course, the "too-tall" actor was James Arness, who evidently did test quite well. He went on to portray Matt on television for 20 years.
John Douchette actually was timed as one of the fastest draws in Hollywood.
Denver Pyle and Strother Martin memorably played comic deserters in "The Horse Soldiers", a John Ford/John Wayne western.