During the film shoot in the episode's original broadcast, Sara references the fact that Katharine Hepburn didn't perform any nude scenes. The director replied that there was still time. This episode aired in March of 2003, almost ten years after her retirement from public life, and almost three full months before her death in June of the same year. Later syndication airings changed the reference to Angela Lansbury.
Sara tells Ned to look for her at her hotel under the name Zelda Fitzgerald. Zelda was the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald and an accomplished author in her own right.
The title is a pun on the many remakes of the 1937 movie "A Star Is Born" with Janet Gaynor. In 1954 the first remake of the movie was produced by Warner Bros. Starring Judy Garland and James Mason and later in 1976 was produced another remake with Barbara Streisand. In 2018 it was released as another remake starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. Of all the remakes of the film, the most acclaimed is the 1954 version of director George Cukor.
Sara Sloane is in Springfield to shoot a film called "The Zookeeper's Wife". In 2017, an actual film with the same title was released in theaters starring Jessica Chastain.