The episode originally aired on the Season Pass on demand service from SingTel mio TV in Singapore on June 17, 2009 and later became available on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2009.

It is also the first episode of the series to feature Felicia Day, an actress with whom Joss Whedon had worked a number of times prior to Dollhouse.

In 2019, Mag (Felicia Day), Zone (Zack Ward), Griff (Chris William Martin), Lynn (Janina Gavankar), a child named Iris (Adair Tishler) and her wiped father (Warren Sweeney) get into the sewers and find a hole into the Dollhouse.

The first set of memories shows Topher's introduction to the Dollhouse with DeWitt and Dominic, and his creation of a new imprinting system that used a different approach to the technology, leading to the development of the chair found in this episode.

When Ballard and Echo are alone in the elevator she discusses her ability to maintain her own personality in parallel with her imprint but laments the terrible headaches this process gives her.

The survivors surround her, weapons aimed, accuse her of killing Lynn, and are about to execute her when she says she can lead them to "Safe Haven," a rumored place away from imprinting and "tech."

Back in 2019, Iris kills Griff, then frames her father, still in the chair, by shoving the gun in his hand and screaming to attract attention.

She also mentions for Victor to be careful when he leaves to go to the surface, stating "Don't forget what happened to November" (something that is explained in the season 2 episode "The Hollow Men").

Topher realizes that this is happening because of the technology he made possible: imprinting people with waves rather than the slower, analog method.

DeWitt tries to comfort him but they are interrupted when a series of crashes is heard from elsewhere in the Dollhouse, which turns out to be someone trying to break through a block wall sealing off the entrance to the complex.

Some of Joss's initial ideas for the episode include the concept of "actuals" tattooing their real names on their backs in the post-apocalyptic future.

[3] One of the biggest challenges with writing the episode was the slang, which they felt needed to sound like it could genuinely exist in ten years' time.

[3] By setting the episode in the distant future, the writers were able to give us an idea of the series' direction (and closure in the face of possible cancellation) through the device of flashforwards into the show's future; these flashforwards are not seen in the actual core narrative of the episode, but rather through flashbacks in the 2019 setting in the form of character memories.

For example, a scene with Boyd (Harry Lennix) and Dr. Saunders (Amy Acker) could be interpreted as either alluding to a new romantic relationship or merely a more developed friendship.

The two writers chose to affect a similar ambiguity in the friendship between Adelle (Olivia Williams) and Topher (Fran Kranz).

Other ambiguities include the fate of Sierra/Priya (Dichen Lachman); seen in flashbacks alongside Victor's real identity (Enver Gjokaj), but not in later scenes.

[3] Whedon and Tancharoen enjoyed many of the developments the episode let them seed for future characters, such as Topher's mental breakdown.

Director David Solomon placed Paul and Victor together in the background of a scene between Caroline (Dushku) and Saunders, which implies that the two develop a friendship.

The final fates of the main cast are also left ambiguous; Caroline puts a gun to DeWitt's head in a future flashforward, and a board is marked "To Remember" featuring pictures of Echo, Sierra, Victor and November (Miracle Laurie, who does not appear in the episode).

[3] Joss Whedon had wanted someone not conventionally strong for the part of Mag, who he felt should be a regular girl who the audience could see thrown into an impossible situation and not a battle-hardened or tough woman.

Writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen selected Felicia Day, who they use in "pretty much everything" because of her girl next door quality.

Tancharoen's bridesmaid played a pregnant woman in the Dollhouse, and the crew along with their families and friends' pictures were used to make up the board marked "To Remember" in the episode's closing scene.

[3] Due to the time and budget concerns, the episode was filmed concurrently with the twelfth, "Omega", and had to use the crew from 24 as well as its director of photography, Rodney Charters and feature the series' cast minimally.

"Epitaph One" was also written to serve as a satisfying series closer to the loyal audience members should Dollhouse not receive a second season renewal.

Scenes featuring Mag, Zone and Caroline-in-the-body-of-Iris were filmed for the second season premiere, "Vows", but cut because the episode was "long and crowded with information".

[5] Due to budget concerns, a real "pop" song could not be used in the ending montage of the episode but writers Whedon and Tancharoen thought it would be necessary.

[3] To accommodate this, Tancharoen wrote and performed a song titled "Remains," which can be heard in the background during the episode's final scenes.

[10] The episode is present on the DVD and Blu-ray season sets released on July 28, 2009[11] and is currently available on Amazon, iTunes, and PSN.

It was reported by Robert Seidman, that "Epitaph One" had reached number one on iTunes Top TV Download List on August 16, 2009.