The old, deranged version of Mr. Burns is based on Howard Hughes in his latter years; the Kleenex and saved urine were two of the most infamously-well-known aspects of Hughes' madness. The Spruce Moose is a parody of Hughes' plane Hercules, which everyone called the Spruce Goose.
This episode features the first appearances of Gunter and Ernst, the Siegfried and Roy-esque casino magicians who are attacked by their white tiger, Anastasia. Nine years and ten months after this episode first aired, Roy Horn was attacked by one of the duo's white tigers. The production team dismissed the novelty of the prediction by saying that it was "bound to happen" sooner or later.
The Rich Texan makes his debut appearance in this episode, referred to as "Senator" by Homer.
A deleted scene shows Homer dealing cards to James Bond. The staff liked the scene, so they decided to put it in the clip show The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular! (1995).
Odds at Bart's casino:
- Krabappel nervous breakdown: 2-1
- Fat kid popular: 50-1
- Bart gets his own TV show: 1000-1