Originally, Lisa was going to directly participate in the gossip, but the writers realized she wouldn't have misunderstood what was actually happening, so they had her say she was in the library and heard the story from Janey.
The episode's writer Rachel Pulido took some of the inspiration for this episode from Bart the Lover (1992), specifically Mrs. Krabappel's line to Bart about refusing to date Principal Skinner because, "his mommy won't let him out to play".
Homer using his megaphone to talk to Marge and Lisa, who were standing next to him, was ad-libbed by Dan Castellaneta.
The scene in which Agnes Skinner shows Bart her cake book is one of Matt Groening's all-time favorite scenes.