The end credits for Mr Burns' recruiting movie say, "An Alan Smithee film." Alan Smithee is a fictitious name reserved (until the year 2000) by the Directors' Guild of America for movies which are so bad the actual director wants to disclaim all responsibility.
At the end of the closing theme, which is in the style of "Tomorrow Never Knows," Homer says "I buried Flanders," which is a reference to the end of The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" where John Lennon says "cranberry sauce" but sounds like "I buried Paul" - one of the "clues" in the Paul is Dead hoax.
In a rare occurrence for series guest stars, Martin Mull and George Carlin recorded their dialogue together.
The chalkboard gag "No one cares what my definition of \'is\' is." alludes to Bill Clinton's much-quoted statement on the "meaning of \'is\'" in his grand jury testimony in the Monica Lewinsky complex.