This is the first time that the traditional live reunion is replaced by a Survivor "after show" on the set of the final Tribal Council featuring only the final three castaways and eight jurors. This replacement and the decision to reveal the winner on the night of the final Tribal Council were made because the production crew were unsure if restrictions imposed due to the global novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic would make a live finale possible.
A shorter version of the end-of-season closing music is heard because only one set of credits needed to be shown for the finale. As a result, the theme ends before the company credits are shown, making this the first season finale in which the roar of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion is heard at the end.
Although, as stated by host Jeff Probst, this is the second time that the winner of the season was revealed at the final Tribal Council (the first time being in Season 1), it is actually the third time that the votes have been read out at the final Tribal Council - the other time was at the end of Season 36 (Ghost Island), when the result was a tie between Wendell and Domenick. Laurel, who had received no votes, became the eleventh member of the jury and was given the casting vote to decide the winner, which was the only vote read out back in Los Angeles.
In Australia, this episode was shown twice on 9Go!, with its first airing at 9:00am AWST/10:30am ACST/11:00am AEST/11:30am ACDST/12 noon AEDST coinciding with when CBS aired it in the eastern United States, and its second airing at its regular time-slot of 7:30pm in all Australian time zones.