The first of four episodes in which Peter Boyle does not appear. The others are Dancing with Debra (1999), How They Met (1999), and Sleepover at Peggy's (2003)
In an interview, Peter Boyle stated that he had a heart attack during rehearsals for this episode: " "I was rehearsing and working with an actress Julie Haggerty and had this coughing and cold sweat and everything and I joked that I was probably having a heart attack and then the assistant director came over and says, 'I think you're having a heart attack and I think ah, then they called the paramedics and the nurse and everything and they came and took me to a nearby hospital and I was having a heart attack and they did an angiogram and a angioplasty and I was in the hospital for a couple of days."
To help her feel better, Ray asks Debra at one point if she has lost weight. Patricia Heaton, the actress who plays Debra, had actually given birth since the previous episode so had lost a lot of weight.