Conan O'Brien described being a guest star on the show as "really delightful", adding that "it's like being frozen in amber. I know people will be watching The Simpsons long after I'm dead.
Writers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen later used the celebrity-heads-in-a-jar gag as a recurring element in Futurama (1999).
Deleted scenes from this episode include Bart sorting Krusty's mail (by either death threats, paternity suits and both) and Homer questioning Krusty on the money Bart is making.
The show's theme had recently been named by the readers of TV Guide as the most annoying theme ever, topping a list of worst theme songs. An intentional reference to the list is made near the start of the show: Bart is whistling the Simpsons theme tune and Marge tells him not to whistle "that annoying tune".
Bart appears on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993). Conan O'Brien was a writer during the fourth and early part of the fifth seasons. During the production of the episode, he received an audition to replace David Letterman as the host of Late Night on NBC, after Letterman defected to CBS. The writers decided that since the episode featured Bart getting famous, it would give them an opportunity to work in O'Brien's show. The part was written just after O'Brien's audition for Late Night, but before he knew he was going to be the host. O'Brien recorded his part shortly after his show premiered, but he believed NBC would have fired him before the episode aired.