Alan Ruck and Richard Kind would go on to work together in Spin City (1996)
This episode features Helen Hunt and Alan Ruck, who would go on to appear together in Twister (1996)
Since 1996, the year portrayed in this episode, the drop has been ceremonially "activated" on-stage by one or more special guests, accompanied by the current mayor of New York City, by pressing a button on a smaller model of the ball.