When Ron Leibman was initially offered the role of Rachel's dad he turned it down without a second thought, as he considered himself a serious dramatic actor, and was uninterested in doing a TV sit-com. When his daughter found out he had been offered the role she begged him to take it, mainly so that she could meet the cast of the show. He finally agreed to do it when he found out that he could play Dr. Green with a slightly dark streak in his persona. He had never seen the show or knew anything about the cast, so when he met them for the first time he mistakenly assumed that Lisa Kudrow was Jennifer Aniston, which led an initially confused Kudrow to wonder why he kept talking to her about Rachel Green.
Marlo Thomas revealed that when it was scripted that Joey was supposed to kiss Rachel's Mom, Matt Leblanc shyly asked Marlo's consent to, as she put it, really lay one on her.
The name of Rachel's sister Jill is confirmed in this episode. Jill later appears in The One with Rachel's Sister (2000).
The first appearance of Dr. Leonard Green
For Rachel's birthday party all of the main cast wear green in this episode: Monica and Rachel wear green dresses, Phoebe wears a half green/pink blouse and pink slacks, Chandler and Joey wear green shirts, and Ross wears a green tie. Rachel's mom wears a hot pink satin jacket and Rachel's dad wears a red and white nautical outfit.