It took nine takes for Steve Allen to pronounce Bart's catchphrase "¡Ay, caramba!" correctly, to the point where the staff began to get slightly frustrated with him.
There was a discussion amongst the writing team of whether the episode should end with a joke or have a "sweet" ending. Mike Reiss said "With the better angels in our nature, we went with the sweet ending [of Lisa playing her saxophone for Bart]."
The episode was inspired by the vocational tests taken by several members of the show's staff when they went to school; Mike Reiss, for example, said he was told he would become a librarian. Al Jean said "one of the first things that sold us on doing the episode" was the idea of Bart becoming a policeman. He said it was "a funny, realistic depiction of what a kid like Bart might wind up to become, and it wasn't something you would immediately think of."
Lisa's flippant remark of "Whaddaya got?" to Principal Skinner imitates Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953).
The song heard when Bart and Skinner search through the lockers for the Teachers' Editions is a variation of Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F" from Beverly Hills Cop (1984). It was previously heard in Radio Bart (1992).