The original ending featured Father Ted joining other priests on a small ledge, preparing to commit suicide by jumping. However, due to Dermot Morgan's untimely death just one day after filming ended, the writers changed it to a happier ending featuring clips from every episode; although they later said that the sadder ending "just didn't work".
'Going to America' was always intended to be the finale of the series. Originally, the writers intended to end the episode with a scene at the 'It's still great being a priest' convention, in which Kevin is once again outside on a window ledge considering suicide. This time, Ted joins him instead of convincing him not to do it because he is apparently depressed by the fact that he'll never escape Craggy Island. This ending was abandoned in favor of the montage scene because Dermot Morgan died of a heart attack the day after filming was concluded. The writers did not feel the original ending was very funny anyway.
During the scene when Ted dances to the theme song from Shaft Father Kevin's actor kept flubbing his lines, this meant Dermot Morgan had to redo the dance repeatedly whenever the lines were flubbed despite pains in his heart. In a 2009 interview Tommy Tiernan, Father Kevin's actor, speculated having to redo the dancing repeatedly might have been been one of the factors for Dermot's fatal heart attack the day after filming had ended.
This was always intended to be the final episode of Father Ted, as the writers and the performers wanted the show to go out on a high.
Ardal O' Hanlon and Tommy Tiernan would later appear together in an episode of "Derry Girls (2018)"