"The Audit" was a backdoor pilot for a proposed spin-off starring Red Buttons. The series was apparently never picked up.
In an unusual step for prime time sitcoms, then NBC president Brandon Tartikoff allowed the series' supervising producer Ron Bloomberg to shoot the episode just 28 hours before it was to air on February 21, 1987 (episodes were usually shot a month before airing). Bloomberg, who also wrote the episode, wanted to incorporate "today's" headlines into the script. Among the topical subjects discussed by the diner patrons are the Iran-Contra affair, the stock market, the miniseries Amerika (1987) and the war film Platoon (1986).