This film broke the Sci-Fi Channel's records by being the highest-rated television event in the network's history.
Dorothy Gale is referred to as the first in the royal bloodline. In the original books by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy was declared a princess of Oz and adopted as a sister by the ruler Ozma.
Glitch makes a reference to not liking scarecrows, a reference to that character's original version.
During a flashback as children, Azkadelia says to DG how smart it was to trick the trees into throwing their apples at them. This is a reference to The Wizard of Oz (1939), when Scarecrow does the same to get apples for a hungry Dorothy.
Only five characters are referred to on screen by the same (or similar) names to their analogous characters in the original book and The Wizard of Oz (1939): DG (Dorothy Gale), Toto, Police Officer Gulch (a reference to Miss Gulch, a character in the 1939 film), The Grey Gale, and Wyatt Cain. Cain is called "tin man" several times by other characters, most notably Glitch when he says, "Have a heart, tin man".