The episode was inspired by popular reality television shows, most notably "Survivor". Originally, the first cut of the episode ran 37 minutes long and the producers considered making the episode a two-parter, one focusing on the Alliance and another focusing on Meredith's birthday party, but later decided against the idea. In addition, several of the lines and scenes from the episode were improvised or ad-libbed by the cast. "The Alliance" was viewed by an estimated 5.4 million viewers and received a 2.4/6% rating share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The episode received positive reviews from critics.