This was Debbie Zipp's final appearance as Donna. In season five there was a wedding episode And Debbie Zipp played Grady's accountant girlfriend in a previous season. In real life she is married to Michael Horton (Grady).
As was common throughout this season, Jessica Fletcher appears only briefly and alone (although unlike many other episodes from this season, she does appear several times throughout the episode while speaking to her nephew on the phone and does not break the fourth wall to address the audience directly). Jessica's short appearance was part of a season 6 tactic to give an exhausted and overworked Angela Lansbury a bit of a break.
The Szechuan culture descends from the Sichuan province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. Their ethnic type of Chinese cooking has become very popular in 21st century America.
One of only a few episodes where Angela Lansbury does not share any scenes with anyone. She talks to the other characters by phone.