This is Jeffrey Combs' (Weyoun) favorite episode. He enjoyed having to play two completely different Weyouns, one who is loyal to the Dominion, and one who is considered defective because he sees things as they really are.
Nog reveals to Chief O'Brien that Ferengis shed their childhood ears the way human children lose their baby teeth.
The idea of a Starfleet officer who collects photos of himself sitting behind the desks of famous captains, and who wants Sisko's desk in this episode, was Ira Steven Behr's joke about how obsessed Trekkies can become. This explains the reference to Captain Picard, one of the franchise's most popular characters.
This episode draws an amusing parallel to To Market, to Market (1972) where Colonel Blake's 100+ year old oak desk is "traded" to a black marketeer in return for much-needed medical supplies. Sisko's desk is "loaned" out in a similar fashion.
This was the first named appearance of the Rio Grande since The Ascent (1996), where it crash landed on an L-class planet. The runabout appeared to be unsalvageable, though it could have been. More likely is that this is the Rio Grande-A, since names of ships are often reused (like the Enterprise for example).