The title is based on the musical 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'. The original Broadway production opened at the Forty-sixth Street Theater in New York on October 14, 1961, ran for 1417 performances and won the 1962 Tony Awards for the Best Musical and Book and was nominated for Best Score.
This is the second of three appearances Marcia Strassman makes in the series, each time appearing as a different character. The other two appearances occur in The Perfect Teenager (1964) and The Raffle (1965).
Patty and Richard quote from William Shakespeare. Richard confuses the "Julius Caesar" character Marc Antony with the titular character in "Hamlet."
Patty sarcastically calls Ross "Miss Lonely Hearts," an allusion to the novella with that title written by Nathanael West and first published in 1933. The story in the novella revolves around a columnist who gives advice to the lovelorn.