Despite the title being a parody of the classic story The Day of the Jackal, the plot has more in common with that of The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
The title is based on the suspense novel 'The Day of the Jackal' by English writer Frederick Forsyth, about a professional assassin hired to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France in 1963.
Bart's chalkboard gag: The hamster did not have "a full life".
This episode was aired on the same day as the 2001 Daytona 500, where NASCAR Legend Dale Earnhardt Senior was killed in a final lap crash.