This episode must have been inspired by the true story of U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Jason Johnson and Bahraini princess Meriam Al-Khalifa. They met at a shopping mall in 1999 when Johnson was stationed in Bahrain. They fell in love, and he smuggled her into the U.S. disguised and with forged documents. The JAG episode takes a different path after they are discovered, but many details in the episode follow real events. The true story also inspired the 2001 made-for-TV movie "The Princess & the Marine (2001)" starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Johnson and Marisol Nichols as Meriam.