Nancy Morgan, who played Michael's potential roommate Cindy, was supposed to be 17 years old in this episode. In real life, she was 29. She was married to Three's Company star, John Ritter at the time.
When Mrs. Crebbins mentions Kunta Kinte in Roots. Florida made a nod at John Amos who played James, playing Kunta and saying " You see, he making more money than all of us now ". John Amos was fired prior to this episode and he played in Roots at time this episode was aired.
In a 2024 podcast, Ralph Carter mentions that the original script for this episode featured an interracial kiss between him and Nancy Morgan's Caucasian character. Feeling this was contradictory to the Pan African ideals of his Michael character, Carter approached Esther Rolle initially with his concerns, who then approached the producers. The episode was rewritten to eliminate the love interest.