Shortly after Phelps enters "the Town" (about 1:14 minutes into the episode) he drives past the Woodfield Town Cemetery, presumably an in-joke named after M:I's second-season script consultant (and writer) William Read Woodfield.
The exteriors showing the assassins traveling to Los Angeles was shot on location on the original Route 66 as well as its replacements I-40 and I-15 in California and Arizona. However, the segments were shown out of geographical order.
In a rare instance, the episode does not start with Phelps receiving an assignment via a recording. Instead, he stumbles into an assignment while on vacation.
When Rollin takes over, it becomes a mission with two objectives...1. To rescue Jim Phelps, and 2. To stop the assassination of the Soviet scientist.
This is one of the few shows in which a mission arises when members of the IMF team are on vacation. The others are "Death Squad" "Kidnap"