The song that the choir sings, "Welcome", is a song from an actual recording of the real People's Temple Choir.
Along with Almos' a Man (1977), One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story (1978) and the Star Trek: La nouvelle génération (1987) episode Interface (1993), this was one of four times that Madge Sinclair played LeVar Burton's mother. She also played his character Kunta Kinte's wife Bell Reynolds in Racines (1977), though by that time the role of Kunta Kinte had been assumed by John Amos.
Powers Boothe's height and build were very different from the height and build of the real Jim Jones. Boothe was 6' 2" with an athletic body type. Jones was 5' 8", and all the way through his life he was overweight with a large belly.
Despite receiving prominent billing, James Earl Jones only appears in one short scene in part 1 of this miniseries, and does not appear at all in part 2.
Powers Boothe appeared at The 32nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1980), winning the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for his role in this miniseries. At the time, his attending the ceremony was itself considered an act of defiance. All the other actors declined to appear at the event because the Screen Actors Guild was in the middle of a strike, and Boothe was the only winner in an acting category who showed up. Boothe remarked in his acceptance speech: "This is either the most courageous moment of my career or the stupidest... I also thought long and hard whether or not I would attend, but I came here because this is America and one must do what one believes. I believe in the Academy [of Television Arts & Sciences]. I also believe in my fellow actors in their stand."