A character modelled after Fox Network owner Rupert Murdoch briefly appears in a scene set in jail. The censors said that Murdoch could not be shown but Rupert Murdoch himself gave his permission for his caricature to be used.
An early version of the script featured a longer scene at the air show that featured Hans Moleman flying an early flying machine.
The role of Colonel Leslie "Hap" Hapablap was specifically written for R. Lee Ermey and much of his dialogue was difficult to write. The line "What is your major malfunction?" is one of his lines from from Full Metal Jacket (1987).
Executive producers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein believed that every season of the show should contain an episode featuring Bob. However, Bob had already been in four episodes and the writers were having a difficult time coming up with new ways to include him.
One of the scenes before the supposed nuclear blast shows Maggie picking flowers in a field, with the camera zooming into her eye, and then the minuscule blast occurs. This is a parody of the infamous and controversial Daisy ad used by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 United States presidential election. Furthermore, the freeze frames preceding Maggie are based on the movie Failsafe.