This episode marked the last guest appearance of Phil Hartman as Troy McClure. On May 28, 1998, four months before the episode aired, he was shot and killed by his wife Brynn Hartman. This episode was dedicated in his memory. Rather than recast Hartman's role, the production staff retired McClure from the show, along with Hartman's other recurring character, Lionel Hutz. These characters continued to make silent appearances in crowd scenes.
When Nelson cooks the carrot, he hums the series theme tune.
The Bolivian Tree Lizard is a fake species, but David X. Cohen based it on real animals, including the dinosaur species Oviraptor, which was originally thought to eat eggs.
The Family Fun Center the Simpsons visit is based on a real family fun center in Falmouth, Massachusetts that David X. Cohen went to as a child to play video games.
Producer Ron Hauge came up with the idea of someone shooting a bird and feeling guilty about it. Hauge told the staff a few weeks before David X. Cohen started writing the episode that when he was 13 or 14 years old, he accidentally killed a bird after he got a Wrist Rocket slingshot, and took a shot at a bird that he thought was "far, far away". Hauge said his friends were excited about it, but he was "dying inside".