This is the second time Lucy Lawless appeared in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as Lyla; she had already appeared three times in the previous season as Xena, the Warrior Princess, which spun off into its own show. Lawless also appeared as Lysia, an Amazon warrior, in Hercules and the Amazon Women (1994).
The villains of the episode are Cretans, which is pronounced exactly the same as "cretins" meaning persons of low intellect.
Lucy Lawless reprises her role as Lyla that she previously played in As Darkness Falls (1995). She had already started her own series, Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) when this was filmed. They worked the similar looks into the episode as Salmoneus asks Hercules if Lyla reminds him of anyone. Hercules replies that she looks a little like Xena.