Like many events referenced in the show, Oleg's story to Tatiana about how close the Russians came to launching nuclear missiles at the U.S. actually happened. On September 26, 1983 a Soviet officer, Stanislav Petrov, disobeyed orders and declined to relay information on what appeared, on Russian radar, to be five incoming missiles from the U.S. to his superiors. As depicted in the show, the "missiles" turned out to be reflections from a cloud. Had he disclosed the radar sightings it might have led to a nuclear war, as depicted in "The Day After." Petrov's actions did not become public until many years later. The incident is dramatized in the 2014 movie, The Man Who Saved the World (2014). This was not the first time nuclear war was avoided. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, an Admiral aboard a Soviet sub ordered the captain to launch his nuclear missile. The captain, Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, who had been appointed the commander of the submarine group involved, refused to do so.
The Day After (1983) was the one of the most controversial movies ever shown on American TV. A number of critics considered it unbalanced if not anti-American. Commentator William F. Buckley asked how it was possible the Soviet propaganda ministry got ABC to produce one of its propaganda films. As a result of the controversy, ABC decided to broadcast a mini-series called Amerika (1987), about the Soviet conquest of America, that this time had people on the Left outraged.
One of the VHS tapes seen in this episode is The Twelve Chairs (1970) which stars Frank Langella (Gabriel).
The Day After (1983) was aired on November 20, 1983. It is still the most-watched television film broadcast of all time in the UK.
The song "Major Tom", a 1983 release by Peter Schilling, that plays at the end of the episode was also the title song for the German TV series Deutschland 83 about an East German spy who infiltrates the NATO headquarters. Both series take place at the about same time, the early-mid 1980's.