Scenes from this episode are often used in documentaries about the series when explaining series producers and C.B.S. wanting to spin-off Valerie Harper. Mary and Rhoda's heartfelt goodbye in this episode is often used to indicate that the series did have a farewell episode for Rhoda before she left for her spin-off. In reality at the end of this episode Rhoda decided to stay in Minneapolis which she does for another year and a half before her character moves back to New York and gets her own series. The series would never have a farewell episode for the Rhoda character as Harper's last episode as a regular was season four's "Lou's Second Date" the plot line which had nothing to do with Rhoda moving back to New York. It wouldn't be until the season five episode, "A New Sue Ann" in which at the end of the episode Mary and the gang head off to the airport so Mary can catch a flight to New York for Rhoda's wedding, that the audience discovers why Rhoda is no longer in Minneapolis. Publicity surrounding Harper's departure and spin-off was so widespread at the time that the series never had a farewell episode Rhoda explaining her move back to New York.
The character of Georgette - who'll become a series semi-regular - is introduced in this episode as the other window dresser at Hempel's Dept. Store, where Rhoda works.
When Rhoda and Mary are holding Rhoda's pet goldfish in Rhoda's apartment, the fish is obviously in its death throes, thrashing and even sinking to the bottom of its bowl several times. It appears that the fish was in water that hadn't been dechlorinated, which is lethal for a goldfish.
Rhoda mentions her topic of conversation with her parents was Robert Redford, who's mentioned several times during the series' run, as the perfect man. After the series concluded, Mary Tyler Moore would be directed by him in the Oscar-winning film Ordinary People (1980).