Colonel Potter is the third, and final, cast member to play Santa Claus at the 4077th. Hawkeye and B.J. each played Santa: Hawkeye in "Dear Dad" (1972), where he misses the orphans' Christmas party and is helicoptered, in costume, into a foxhole during combat; and B.J. in "Dear Sis" (1978), where he wears a white Santa beard, complimented by his own "cheesy" mustache.
Keye Luke is best known for his role as Number One Son in the Charlie Chan movies. Like also voiced Chan on the 1970s cartoon series The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, for which Jamie Farr was a writer.
The chocolate bar Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) takes from Rizzo (G.W. Bailey) is a Toblerone chocolate bar.
Although the title is the same as the 1934 film mentioned here, its true original title source is the Italian play 'La Morte in vacanza' by Alberto Casella which translate to English as, of course, 'Death Takes a Holiday' .