James Franco came up with the idea that Daniel should both have a terrible home life and seek a respite from it by taking on a Goth persona. Paul Feig loved this and immediately wrote a script that would focus on it.
In the original version of the episode (seen only in a few museum screenings during the spring), the song played during the final scene was "Only Love Will Break Your Heart" by Neil Young.
The ventriloquist that Neal (Samm Levine) is talking about when he mentions Soap (1977) is Jay Johnson.
Neal's brother Barry is home from college asked what his major is and his answer is he's "undeclared", which is the title of Judd Apatow's show that came out the following year. Both shows were critically well received, but only lasted one year due to poor ratings.
Seth Rogen (Ken Miller) and David Krumholtz (Barry Schweiber) also worked together on two episodes of Undeclared (2001) as Ron Garner & Greg respectively.