Trivia: Georgia Moffett, who stars as "Jenny" in this episode, is the real-life daughter of Peter Davison, the actor who portrayed the Doctor from 1982 to 1984. She married David Tennant a few years after this episode aired.
Trivia: When Harriet Jones is explaining the sub-wave network to the Doctor's companions she says "It was created by the Mr. Copper Foundation." This is a reference to Mr. Copper from "Voyage of the Damned", who stayed to live on Earth and who probably would have had the advanced technology from the planet Stow where he came from.
Trivia: Lady Christina de Souza, one-shot companion for this episode, was based on ideas for the companion that would have succeeded Ace if the classic series had lasted to a season 27.
Silence in the Library (1) - S4-E8
Trivia: When this episode and "Forest of the Dead" were made, only Steven Moffat and Alex Kingston knew who River Song really was. As a result, not only is the Doctor's confusion genuine, David Tennant famously admitted that he chose to act as if the Doctor thought that she was a future incarnation of his, even though he knew that, even with what little information was given on River in the story, that theory made no sense.
Trivia: Early drafts of this episode had the Carrionite invasion in 1599 (from "The Shakespeare Code") and the Dalek invasion in 1930 (from "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks") stopped by UNIT time-travelling commandos, but this was cut for time and being unnecessary to the main plot.
Trivia: David Troughton, who plays Professor Hobbes, is the son of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton. He previously appeared in the classic series twice: alongside his father in "The War Games" as minor character Private Moor, and in the Third Doctor story "The Curse of Peladon" as King Peladon.
Forest of the Dead (2) - S4-E9
Trivia: Donna's virtual children, Ella and Josh, were named after Steven Moffat's daughter and a friend of hers.
Trivia: The Doctor mentioning that someone tried to move the Earth once before, a long time ago, is a reference to the First Doctor serial "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", in which the Daleks intended to replace the planet's core with an engine in order to do the moving. And, of course, the Daleks are responsible for this episode's titular planet theft as well.
Trivia: Caecilius is played by Peter Capaldi, who later on took over the role of the Doctor from Matt Smith. It was later written into the storyline that the reason the Doctor's regeneration picked that face was as a reminder to himself that he saves lives. In addition, Karen Gillan, who later played Amy Pond, plays one of the Sybilline priestesses.
Chosen answer: The Master knows that deep down, he deserves death for the crimes that he's committed throughout his life, and since he regards The Doctor as his arch-foe, he expects it to be at his hands. The fact that The Doctor is still willing to forgive him for all of his crimes hurts him more deeply than death would.
Captain Defenestrator