This episode won a Humane Society Genesis Award for its depiction of animal cruelty in the Fire Nation circus.
The Eastern Air Temple is shown for the first time. Of all the four air temples this is the only one that doesn't have an episode entirely dedicated to it and named accordingly.
Although it's hard to notice, Sokka and Katara can be seen sleeping next to the campfire when Aang dreams about Appa. This is their only appearance in the episode, thus making it the only episode of the series where they appear but don't have any lines. (There is one other episode where they don't appear at all.)