It poses the question of whether an ordinary person would be willing to cause a total stranger to die in exchange for $200,000 ($1 million in The Box) by simply pushing a button.

In a documentary on the making of the movie The Box, Matheson states the inspiration for the story came from his wife, whose college professor had asked a similar question as a way of promoting a class discussion.

They open the box and discover it is empty, with no mechanism that the button could activate, so Arthur throws it in the trash.

Matheson strongly disapproved of the Twilight Zone version, especially the new ending, and used his pseudonym Logan Swanson for the teleplay.

[1] The Box, a feature film based on this story written and directed by Richard Kelly, starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, was released in 2009.

Basil Hoffman, the actor who played Steward in the Twilight Zone episode, appears in the film in a different role.

Actors for this radio play were Mason Adams, Paul Hecht, Evie Juster, Ralph Bell, and Will Hare.