Comedy Central had reservations about Cartman dressing up as Hitler (which offends Kyle because he is Jewish) and sought ideas for other possible costumes, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone insisted it had to be the Hitler costume. Once the episode aired, however, the two received very few letters from upset viewers over the costume; Parker attributed this to the fact that people were becoming more familiar with the Cartman, and thus recognized that most of what he said and did was usually wrong.
This is the fastest Kenny has ever died in an episode. Only surviving for 27 seconds after the opening theme song.
Actress and singer Tina Yothers appears in the episode as a celebrity judge in the school's costume judging contest. About one year after the episode aired, Matt Stone met Yothers at a venue where she was performing with her band. Stone was uncomfortable because it was the first time he had met a celebrity the show had mocked, but Yothers is a big fan of the show and enjoyed her parody appearance. She has since used a clip of Kyle saying "Up yours, Tina Yothers" from the episode as an introductory sound clip to introduce her band's shows.
Matt Stone feels this episode solidified major characteristics embodied by Chef, particularly the fact that he is one of the only adults in South Park who always understands the truth of any given situation and believes the children almost all of the time: "The parents are all nuts that live in the town. The boys are kind of the most sane and Chef is really the only one in town who believes the kids when they say (something) is happening, when the kids are actually right and its the town that's crazy."
Comedy Central executives were worried about the use of Chewbacca costumes throughout the episode because of George Lucas' well-known tendency to file lawsuits against unauthorized Star Wars references or parodies. The channel contacted his production company, Lucasfilm, about the episode and was asked to send a copy of the episode to them for review.