The story of this episode is similar to that of the DS9 episode, "Shadowplay", in which a man who lost all of his friends and family recreates his entire village out of holograms. In that episode, Odo, played by Rene Auberjonois, is one of the two officers that discovers the secret of that village. Coincidentally, in this episode, Auberjonois guest stars as Ezral, the engineer responsible for programming the holographic crew.