While the idea of Blinky was completely fictional at the time, a three-eyed fish was caught in 2011 in Córdoba, Argentina near a local nuclear power plant. The fish was a seawolf and did not resemble Blinky besides the three eyes. The fishermen sent the fish to a radiation test, to determine whether the mutation came from being exposed to the water from the nuclear power plant.
Blinky had previously made a brief appearance in Homer's Odyssey (1990), in which he was seen swimming in the lake outside of the plant. The writers liked the design of the fish and decided to devote an episode to him.
The clip of Burns driving a military tank in his campaign montage is similar to a clip featured in Michael Dukakis's 1988 United States presidential campaign, in which he can be seen driving a tank.
This was supposed to be the first episode of Season Two. Due to Bart's popularity, Bart Gets an F (1990) was aired first.
A re-run of the episode that aired on June 25, 1992, included a new chalkboard gag in the opening credits that featured Bart writing "It's potato, not potatoe" on the chalkboard. This is a reference to a spelling blunder by the then-Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle, who corrected a student's correct spelling of "potato" to "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey, on June 15, 1992.