Originally South Park started as two animated shorts, The Spirit of Christmas (1992) and The Spirit of Christmas (1995), clips of which could be seen in the original opening title sequence on screens they passed (the title sequence used until 4th Grade (2000)). The first featured Baby Jesus battling an evil Frosty, the second featuring an adult Jesus fighting Santa. In this episode, the boys make the latter version as their special. This episode depicts the difficulties Matt Stone and Trey Parker had when making the original shorts.
Kyle's face changes during the song to that of Joshua Trundle, one of the main characters from the special 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974) which is an animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions and based on the famous 1823 poem that opens with that line.
This is the first episode to show Stan's hair (albeit only partially after he meets Kyle and the others at night), the third boy to have it revealed. Cartman is the first, with his hair being shown in Merry Christmas Charlie Manson! (1998) and Kenny is the second as he removes his hood at the end of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) (and the first episode his hair is seen when he is naked in The Tooth Fairy's Tats 2000 (2000)). Kyle's hair is seen (and Stan's hair fully) for the first time in How to Eat with Your Butt (2001).