Peter Noone, playing the band's manager, is a real life member of the British band Herman's Hermits. While Sam speaks to him about finances in the office, an orchestrated version of the Herman's Hermits song "Mrs. Brown, You've got a lovely daughter" can be heard playing in the background.
Michael Cerveris and Christian Hoff appeared together in the 1993 Broadway musical The Who's Tommy. They were both in the original cast. Michael played Tommy and Christian was in the ensemble. Christian can be heard in "Pinball Wizard". They each won Tony awards later in their careers. Michael won for "Assassins" and "Fun Home" and Christian for "Jersey Boys"
The manager for King Thunder insisted the band members not be seen by the public without their make up on to keep up the mystique surrounding the band. KISS did the same thing from 1973 until 1983, as by that time two of the original members, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, had already left the band. Along with the makeup, King Thunder wore wigs, something that KISS would not do until much later in their career.
King Thunder is largely a parallel to the band KISS. Some pictures of King Thunder seen in Phillip's room were similar to the cover photo of KISS's self titled debut album. There are also references to KISS songs. The episode was set in Detroit, and one of KISS's more popular songs was titled Detroit Rock City. In addition, Detroit was one of the earliest cities where KISS became popular. Also, the name King Thunder combines the name of the 70's era KISS songs King Of The Nighttime World and God Of Thunder.
Philip Silbart was born in Hastings, Nebraska on July 27, 1957 according to Al's on screen dialogue. Philip's license briefly shown on screen has a birthdate of 6/27/57.