Since 2009, the show's new opening sequence includes Mr. Sparkle detergent with Marge's supermarket purchases.
The solution for how Mr. Sparkle resembles Homer was written by George Meyer, after hours of time had been spent trying to come up with a realistic ending.
By season 8, the show had begun to explore episodes revolving around secondary characters. Reverend Lovejoy was selected for this episode because, aside from being noted as "the priest who didn't care", he had not had much character development.
An original scene from Lovejoy's flashback showed that Jasper Beardley preceded him as minister of the First Church of Springfield.
To help create the advertisement, the writers watched videos of many Japanese commercials.