The night that this was first broadcast, there was a major power outage in the Pacific Northwest, which meant that author Ursula K. Le Guin was unable to watch the film based on her own book on its first run.
This was the first Made for TV Movie to be ever shown on PBS.
Dallas was chosen as the backdrop for the movie's futuristic setting because its many mirrored buildings and unusual architecture made it look futuristic. Dallas City Hall, Reunion Arena, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and neighboring Fort Worth's Water Garden were the locations where many of the scenes were filmed. Dallas was also used in similar movies such as Fuga no Século 23 (1976) and RoboCop: O Policial do Futuro (1987).
Unseen for twenty years because of a copyright issue: in one scene, George Orr plays a record of The Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends." The film was finally allowed to be rebroadcast when The Beatles' version of the song was replaced with one sung by a different vocalist.
Dr. William C. Dement, the famous sleep researcher who founded the Stanford Sleep Clinic and for many years taught the popular "Sleep and Dreams" class at Stanford University, was a consultant to Ursula K. Le Guin and is thanked in the closing credits.