Regarding the argument between Archer and Reed, it was indeed closer to 20 seconds.

In issue 106 of Star Trek Monthly, John Shiban stated that the episode would've just featured "unknown aliens". However, this changed during a staff meeting when (according to Shiban) Brannon Braga suggested using the Romulans instead.

This episode is the first Enterprise episode to feature the Romulans. The crew never see their faces as the Original Series episode "Balance of Terror" states that no human saw a Romulan until that point