The episode was written by Jon Vitti, who used the pseudonym "Penny Wise" in the closing credits because he did not want to be credited for writing a clip show. It was directed by David Silverman, who also did not want to be credited, and used the pseudonym "Pound Foolish" in the closing credits.
Matt Groening is drawn to look like Hollywood director John Ford. His reply to "Get outta my office!" tracks with an anecdote Steven Spielberg told about meeting him, which was dramatized in The Fabelmans.
During the early years of the show, Fox network officials forced the staff to produce clip shows in order to save money. Originally, the producers were ordered to produce four clip show episodes per season in order to meet episode limits imposed by the network. Fox network officials reasoned that clip shows could be produced at half the cost of a normal episode, but syndication rights could be sold at full price. The staff, however, felt such a large number of clip shows would alienate fans of the series.
This is the only episode of the series to be animated entirely in America. This is likely due to two factors: Not much new animation was required for a clip show, and much of the new animation created was very limited in movement and thus, easy to produce domestically.
Despite having already left the show by the time this episode was made, a portrait of former producer Sam Simon was drawn by Simon himself after he did not like the original joke for him, which was a "No Photo Available" disclaimer.