James Garner was to appear in this episode as Jim Rockford because of his close relationship with Tom Selleck. However, due to Garner's ongoing lawsuit with Universal, it didn't happen.
Sitting together at the AAPI ceremony are three credited lookalikes for famous television detectives: Det. Mike Stone (from The Streets of San Francisco), Columbo (from Columbo), and Lt. Theo Kojak (from Kojak). Each man's nametag bears the name of the actor who originally played the character: Karl Malden, Peter Falk, and Telly Savalas, respectively.
The hotel detective was played by Stephen J. Cannell. While it was intended that Jim Rockford would appear as a character in this story, a Rockford connection remains, as Cannell was a writer and producer of a number of Rockford episodes and TV movies. A prolific writer and producer, he was best known for his detective shows.
Having previously appeared in Season 3 "Legacy from a Friend" (1983), this is Annie Potts' second and final appearance as Tracy Spencer in the series.
Elisha Cook Jr. ("Wilmer") played a punk by the same name in film noir classic, The Maltese Falcon (1941) - a young hothead who killed Sam Spade's partner Miles Archer, as well as Captain Jacoby. In the film, the "fat man" (played by Sydney Greenstreet ) survived. As Magnum's fantasy has Wilmer killing the fat man, this amounted to a sequel to the classic film. Besides Cook, at the time this episode aired, the only other surviving actor from the Maltese Falcon was Mary Astor, who passed away 11 months afterward.