This episode included a story about The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) which was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983. The opening sequence shows Jessica Savitch seated next to a laser that she used to destroy a model of a communication satellite. The demonstration was perhaps the first televised use of a weapons grade laser. No theatrical effects were used. The model was actually destroyed by the heat from the laser. The model and the laser were provided by Marc Palumbo, a High Tech Romantic artist from the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT.
—Marc Palumbo