The scene where stampy storms through a Democratic convention with signs saying "We hate life and ourselves" and a Republican convention with signs saying "We're just plain evil" was edited out of syndication due to its controversial nature.
The episode introduces the character Cletus Spuckler. He is shown as one of the "slack-jawed yokels" gawking at Stampy in the Simpson family's backyard. Cletus is not named in the episode, so the staff simply referred to him as the Slack-Jawed Yokel.
The most important thing to David Mirkin while making the episode was to make sure that the elephant would be a "bastard" and behave rudely, unlike other animals on the show. For example, instead of putting people on his back, Stampy would put them in his mouth. Mirkin said the elephant "never quite bonds because it's a very cantankerous animal, a concept that was very important to this episode".
Stampy has since been used several times in jokes later on in the series. For example, Stampy made an appearance in the season nine episode Miracle on Evergreen Terrace (1997) in one of Bart's dreams, and in the season fourteen episode Large Marge (2002), where he is used by Bart in a stunt to help Krusty the Clown win back his popularity. Stampy appeared briefly in The Simpsons Movie (2007), where he tries to break down the giant glass dome lowered over Springfield.
The Springfield Tar Pits are inspired by the La Brea Tar Pits located in Hancock Park in Los Angeles, California. The museum in the background of the scene where Homer sinks into one of the tar pits resembles the George C. Page Museum of the La Brea Discoveries.