Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song

Baby Gerald, Luigi Risotto, Assistant Superintendent Leopold, and Flanders' parents make their first appearances on the show in this episode. Leopold and Luigi were designed by David Silverman, one of the show's directors. Bob Anderson thought Luigi was one of the funniest characters on the show when he first read Luigi's lines in the script during a table read of the episode. When Anderson skimmed through the script and saw Luigi's lines, he said he "frightened Julie Kavner because I was laughing to myself, but trying to keep the laughter in because it was so damn funny."

Mrs. Krabappel feeds Santa's Little Helper cookies that Martin calls "Raisin Roundies." Raisins are incredibly toxic to dogs. It is very likely Santa's Little Helper would have died in the closet before he smelled the horse meat.

Bart's chalkboard gag for this episode, the 100th of the series, reads: "I will not celebrate meaningless milestones."