In order to lend gravity to the proceedings, a real Jewish cantor was brought in for the episode. He was supposed to sing a brief prayer at the beginning of the bar mitzvah scene, but according to Morey Amsterdam, he became a bit star-struck at what he was doing, and sang uninterrupted for 5 or 10 minutes. When he finally concluded, Amsterdam said that he stepped forward and announced, "One more time!" because the take, as shot, couldn't be used. The cantor apparently got the message and, for a second take, sang just a brief prayer as he had been supposed to do.
Buddy's Hebrew name is Moishe Selig Sorrell.
The script makes multiple references to the fact that Buddy waited 30 years to have his bar mitzvah, which would make him 43 years old, although Morey Amsterdam was 58 when the episode was filmed and aired.
Though Buddy's wife Pickles is mentioned, Rob speaks with her on the phone and Buddy mentions her in his Bar Mitzvah speech, she does not appear in the episode.
There are differing stories about the origin of this episode. Morey Amsterdam recalled that producer Carl Reiner and some of the show's writers, all of whom were Jewish, were swapping bar mitzvah stories one day when Reiner asked Amsterdam about his experience. Amsterdam responded that he had never had a bar mitzvah because his family had been too poor, adding, "In those days my folks couldn't afford to be Jewish." Amsterdam said that this exchange prompted Reiner to commission the episode. Art Baer, who co-wrote the episode recalled it differently, claiming that he, too, had never had a bar mitzvah as a child, but that his mother had asked him to go through the rite at age 40. Baer mentioned this to Reiner at a story conference, who thought it would be a good plot line for Buddy Sorrell, and he and Baer then worked out the story.