The episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camerawork/Video Control for a Series.
When Blanche tells Dorothy that Daisy is holding Fernando for ransom and sent her one of his ears, this is a reference to the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. In 1973 he was kidnapped while in Rome, the kidnappers left a note demanding $17 million. Some family members initially thought he had staged the kidnapping to try and get money. After his grandfather, J. Paul Getty, refused to pay the ransom, his ear was cut off and sent to a newspaper to validate the danger he was in if the ransom wasn't paid.
Sophia, played by Estelle Getty, befriends a man suffering from Alzheimer's disease, a type of dementia. Getty herself died of Lewy body dementia.
Just as Estelle Getty was actually 30 years younger than her character, Sophia Petrillo, Joe Seneca was only 68 when he played the elderly Alvin.
Jenny Lewis played a girl scout in this episode. Two years later, she played a girl scout in Troop Beverly Hills