During a break in shooting, Carrie Preston went home to New York, arriving on September 10, 2001, less than 24 hours before the World Trade Center attacks. The show resumed production the following week, but all flights were grounded. Preston had to rent a car and drive across the country to get back to work.
Felicia Day's very first screen acting gig was as a clerk in the original pilot, which was scrapped. However, after the story was overhauled, Day was asked to return to shoot the scene again for a new version of the pilot (which wound up being the 4th episode broadcast).
In test screenings, "Emeril" scored the best with women out of all of NBC's new shows, and it was top-rated in the adults 35-49 demographic.
Lisa Ann Walter's hair was red when the original pilot was taped, and the ginger tresses appeared in many promotional photos. At the time, she was committed to the ill-fated series Breaking News (2002) (which TNT soon canceled without airing a single episode), but she reverted to blond by the time that this show went into production.