At the beginning of this episode, two posters for spoofs of 'The Matrix' franchise can be seen at the Aztec Theatre. The Matrix Revolutions had been released 5 months prior to this episode, making these spoofs a joke on their less-than critical success:
- "A Matrix Christmas", a play on words for a Merry Christmas
- "You're in the Matrix, Charlie Brown", a spoof of the titles for Charlie Brown cartoons, which were formatted as "You're [Text here], Charlie Brown"
This episode was written by Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer and many other characters in the Simpsons, and his wife Deb Lacusta.
Homer takes Artie Ziff to Moe's tavern. We see these people sitting at the bar. They all, along with Ziff, were voiced by Jon Lovitz in other episodes.
- Professor Lombardo (Brush with Greatness (1991) (#2.18)),
- Aristotle Amadopoulis (Homer Defined (1991) (#3.5)),
- Llewellyn Sinclair (A Streetcar Named Marge (1992) (#4.2)), and
- Jay Sherman (A Star Is Burns (1995) (#6.18) & Hurricane Neddy (1996) (#8.8))
The title is based on the play "The Man Who Came to Dinner" written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman and opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre on October 16, 1939 and ran for 739 performances.
The motto for The Springfield Penitentiary is "If you committed murder, you'd be home by now!"