This is the first of four episodes to be directed by Don Johnson, also his directorial debut. He would direct one episode in each of the show's final four seasons. Although Johnson directed more episodes of the show of any other member of the principle cast, he was not the first to do so - Edward James Olmos previously directed Bushido (1985) from earlier in the second season.
The episode is notable for the number of songs that appear during the episode - eight in total, tying it with Killshot (1986) for the most songs to appear in a standard (one-hour) episode, and in fact equalling the number of songs used in Freefall (1989). All of the songs are by The Doors, as their music was popular during the Vietnam Era (although they had disbanded by 1975, when the Fall of Saigon occured), which also makes the group the most-featured act in the entire series. The episode's end credits state "Special thanks to The Doors" in recognition of their contribution.
Stone's War (1986) is a sequel to this episode; instead of the Vietnam War, the main issue covered in "Stone's War" is the then-ongoing Nicaraguan Civil War between the US-backed Contras and the Sandinistas.
All of the pictures displayed in Maynard's office are of people Liddy served with during the Watergate era (Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, General William Westmoreland, etc.) and both he and Crockett have pictures of the infamous "General Loan" execution of a suspected Viet Cong prisoner in the streets of Saigon during the Tet Offensive.
The plot of this episode is loosely based on the urban legend that drug traffickers within the army used body bags of deceased soldiers during the Vietnam War to smuggle heroin out of Vietnam.