Tim Minear returned to "Angel" for this episode, after having not written for "Angel" since "Benediction" due to being busy with "Firefly". He both wrote and directed the episode, which he says acted like a pilot in order to demonstrate to both the network and the television audience that the show could move in a new and interesting direction. Minear says, "It's setting up the new configuration for the show." Writer David Fury explains, "You can't sell network on a show they've already been producing so you have to kind of sell them on a new paradigm - something to enliven it. It may not be broke but they feel like a little change won't hurt."