Russell T Davies had always regretted killing all the Ood at the end of The Satan Pit. They were just a passive servant race after all, only aggressive due to a malign outside influence. He determined to revisit the race at a later date and address the servitude issue. It took until the fourth series to get round to this, though there had been a plan to have the spaceship in 42 carrying a cargo of Ood.
As well as a commentary on slavery, the story would also address commercialism in general - including commodification, marketing and advertising.
The industrial exploitation of the Ood would also be a comment on battery farming, as we see them held in pens and containers.
Having the location an ice planet was something RTD wanted, as the series hadn't used this type of environment so far. The Doctor actually comments on it being real snow for a change - a reference to the running joke of snow in the Christmas Specials always being something else.
The story was originally intended to be a two-parter, with a search for the giant Ood brain in a series of ice tunnels taking up considerable time.
The telepathic Ood would once again be taken over by an external force. Whilst the Ood had been lower down the mix in their first story, they had to be prominent here, so the only other villains would be the human slave-traders. The story would end with the liberation of the Ood.
All of this was handed over to writer Keith Temple to pull together.
Temple and one of the script editors came up with the idea that Ood in their natural state have a second brain which they hold in their hand, to explain why they have to be a non-aggressive race when left to their own devices.
The writer originally intended to make this a partial sequel to The Satan Pit by having Ida Scott feature - come to the Ood-Sphere to investigate the conditions under which the Ood were farmed.
The Ood had originally been inspired by the Sensorites, and this link is made specific as the Doctor states that the Ood-Sphere and the Sense-Sphere are near neighbours in this section of the galaxy.
The "Red-Eye" contagion which affects the Ood was inspired by the zombies in the film 28 Days Later, as well as recent memories of the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak.
Popular culture references for the Ood adverts included the silkscreen pop art works of Andy Warhol (multiple copies of a single image in different colours), and the opening credits to Da Ali G Show (different characters exposed by a bright spotlight in a darkened space).
One of the voices customers can purchase for their Ood is that of Homer Simpson ("Doh!") from The Simpsons.
As far as the series' story arc goes, we have the first mention of the Doctor-Donna, which will be explained in Journey's End, and Ood Sigma's declaration that the Doctor's song will soon be ending - which won't be resolved until The End of Time Part II. Donna once again mentions the disappearance of bees.
The Doctor says that revolutions have a habit of starting around him. This could refer to a number of earlier stories (e.g. The Sun Makers, State of Decay, The Happiness Patrol).
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