Director Edward James Olmos stated in the DVD commentary that he made several homages to El muchacho de los cabellos verdes (1948), which starred a then twelve year old Dean Stockwell. Stockwell portrayed Peter Fry, a war orphan whose hair inexplicably turned green when he discovered that his parents had been killed during the Second World War. One example was when Cavil asked the boy John "Are you a war orphan?". This question was asked of Peter Fry several times in El muchacho de los cabellos verdes (1948).
Olmos also used a still shot picture of Peter Fry from the movie when casting for the character of John the Boy, because he wanted the actor to bear a strong resemblance to how Stockwell looked in his adolescence. Alex Ferris resemblance to Stockwell's picture helped get him cast. At one point, Olmos wanted John the Boy's hair color to be green like Peter Fry's character, but was ultimately overruled by the producers.
Olmos also used a still shot picture of Peter Fry from the movie when casting for the character of John the Boy, because he wanted the actor to bear a strong resemblance to how Stockwell looked in his adolescence. Alex Ferris resemblance to Stockwell's picture helped get him cast. At one point, Olmos wanted John the Boy's hair color to be green like Peter Fry's character, but was ultimately overruled by the producers.
This movie is a retelling of Battlestar Galactica (2003) and Galáctica, estrella de combate (2004)'s first two seasons, with more emphasis on the Cylon perspective and their plan to wipe out the human race.
D'Anna Biers was originally written as being one of the Cylons working with Cavil aboard Galactica. However, Lucy Lawless was not available for the scheduled filming dates, leading to D'Anna's role in the script being replaced by a Six, referred to in the script as "Tough Six".
Close up shots of the rubble on Picon are actually the remains of the Battlestar's hanger bay set shortly after it was struck and bulldozed.
Giana O'Neill (Simon's wife) is portrayed by Lymari Nadal. Nadal had previously played a woman named Giana in Battlestar Galactica (2003), though it's not clear if this is the same character.