This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
- The 1986 Larry Davis case. Davis was a New Yorker who shot at six police officers who were carrying out a raid. Davis later claimed the officers were out to murder him because of his knowledge of corrupt cops. The officers claimed they were only there to question Davis about the killing of four (suspected) drug dealers. Davis managed to escape, and a manhunt was launched to find him. Davis later took hostages, and he only surrendered himself to the police when the news media showed up and when he was promised not to be harmed.
- The life of Frank Serpico. Serpico is an American retired New York Police Department detective, best known for whistleblowing on police corruption. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was a plainclothes police officer working in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan to expose vice racketeering. In 1967, he reported credible evidence of widespread police corruption, to no effect. In 1970, he contributed to a front-page story in The New York Times on widespread corruption in the NYPD, which drew national attention to the problem. Mayor John V. Lindsay appointed a five-member panel to investigate accusations of police corruption, which became the Knapp Commission.
- The 1990 Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department narcotics corruption scandal and the suspected involvement of the James Henry Atkinson case.
David Margulies has played four different characters during the course of the series:
- Episode 1.13 A Death in the Family (1991) - Simpson.
- Episode 3.20 Securitate (1993) - Tommy Zanescu.
- Episode 5.15 Seed (1995) - Dr. Jordan Delbert.
- Episode 15.11 Fixed (2004) - Dr. Jack Clayburg.
Madison Arnold has played six different roles over the course of the series:
- Episode 1.13 A Death in the Family (1991) - Bridges.
- Episode 6.23 Aftershock (1996) - Leonard Jensen.
- Episode 10.11 Collision (2000) - Patrick Clarke
- Episode 9.17 Shield (1999) - Mr. Pelham.
- Episode 15.14 Fluency (2005) - Reimer.
- Episode 19.10 Pledge (2009) - Saul Lasky.
Wendy Makkena (Officer Nicki Sandoval) also played the role of Janet Weston in Born Again (2002) (episode 12.16).
Chris Noth (Detective Mike Logan) & David Margulies (Simpson) also worked together on Don't Haze Me, Bro (2012) (episode 4.4), as Peter Florrick & Richard respectively.