Actor David Warner took over the role of Gul Madred on three days' notice. He could not learn his lines in that short time, so he had to use cue cards. He said, "Every line I said, I actually was reading over Patrick Stewart's shoulder or they put it down there for me to do it. After I finished it, I thought it worked, which obviously it did.".
Patrick Stewart prepared for the scenes of torture by reviewing tapes provided by Amnesty International. He agreed to perform the first torture scene naked, but only as long as it was on a closed set.
Due to budget considerations, a bigger on-screen confrontation between the Enterprise and the Cardassians in the nebula had to be scrapped.
Beverly's line "and wait for the casualties you're about to send me" was inspired by a cut line from The Doomsday Machine (1967). Dr. McCoy would have informed Commodore Matt Decker, "Yes sir - go to Sickbay and wait for the casualties you're about to send me." In both cases, it is the regular Enterprise medical officer speaking to a guest captain who has "usurped" command of the ship.
This is David Warner's third and final appearance on Star Trek. As well as playing a Cardassian here, he played a human in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), and a Klingon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).