This movie forms part of the unofficial final season 10, consisting of three, stand-alone, tv movies, along with Bless all the Dear Children and The Last Farewell, which concluded LHOTP, as a whole.
Curiously, like the season nine, two-part episode "Home Again", which dealt with Albert's criminality and drug addiction, this special TV movie does not feature 'Caroline' (Karen Grassle) at all, even though her son is dying of Leukemia.
In 2023, online reports claimed that long standing disagreements with Michael Landon over unfair salaries were the reason for the absence of Katherine McGregor and Karen Grassle from this film. McGregor's pilgrimage to India, which was used to explain her absence, was false, according to the actress herself in a YouTube interview.
In The Reincarnation of Nellie (Part I) (1981), Melora Hardin played the role of Belinda Stevens. In this film instead of bringing back a familiar Walnut Grove resident, they brought Melora back to play the role of Michele Pierson (Albert's love interest) who has supposedly lived in Walnut Grove for years but has not been seen before.
This is the first time cows are seen at the fishing hole.