Originally was going to be the series finale but HBO convinced David Chase to do one more season.
This is the final episode directed by John Patterson, who died in 2005. Patterson directed all the season finales for the first five seasons.
Originally, Chase said he was finished after this fifth and final season. It was writer Terrence Winter who convinced Chase to continue by telling him, "When we come back we could be anywhere. 2 years in the future. Meadow could have kids. AJ could be a grown man. We could do anything." This sparked David Chase to continue the series.
Silvio calls the disguised Christopher "Claude Rains." This is a reference to the film The Invisible Man (1933).
This episode includes the father-son team of Frank Vincent and Anthony Vincent: the former plays Phil Leotardo, while the latter performs as a stuntman. Son Anthony would also do stunt work in Season 6's "Remember When" episode.
Bob Shaw: The production designer for the show, as Ignatz Pravalkis, the architect working with Hugh DeAngelis to create Carmela's spec house.