This episode broke The WB's record for number of viewers for a debut series.
The scene showing Clark Kent "crucified" in a cornfield, wearing nothing but boxer shorts, was shot on such a chilly night that Tom Welling's breath can clearly be seen in the air. A tight shooting schedule prevented any delay in the shooting. Producers called Welling "a real trooper" for filming this scene under these conditions.
When this pilot episode first aired in the US on the WB network, it ran for 70 minutes. However, a large number of fans had set their VCR timers to run for just an hour so the network was inundated with complaints from people who had missed the last 10 minutes. A shorter version now exists.