Inara asks whether a carved wooden statuette in a trading post is supposed to be a duck, and Kaylee replies that it's a swan. There is a Chinese proverb that says, "A badly painted tiger looks like a dog; a badly carved swan looks like a duck." (The meaning of the proverb is that it's better not to do certain things than to do them badly.)
Nathan Fillion appeared with Alan Tudyk as a guest on Kevin Smith's "Fatman on Batman". When asked about his favorite memory from Firefly, Nathan related that at the end of this episode referencing cattle rustling, the crew of Serenity sits down to dinner. If you look closely, you will see that they are having one of the few fancy meals they ever enjoyed during the series. They are eating a steak dinner compliments of one of their former cargo passengers. The Serenity dinner scene was the last shot before lunch that day. After finishing the take, the crew broke for lunch and the cast actually ate lunch on the steak dinners provided for the shot. Nathan said it felt like being at home having dinner with all of his best friends.
This episode marks the television debut of a young Zac Efron, appearing as an adolescent Simon Tam in the flashback sequences.
While this episode is currently rated the lowest, it's the origin of one of the most quoted scenes:
Mal: ...Well, Zoe, looks like we got here in the nick of time. What does that make us?
Zoe: Big damn heroes, sir.
Summer Glau, who plays River, is actually a trained dancer, so this episode marked a rare occasion for her to show off her skills on the show.