Joseph Ruskin, who played the Genie in "The Man in the Bottle," also provided the voice-over of the Kanamit alien in The Twilight Zone season 3 classic "To Serve Man."
Luther Adler, who was Jewish, had previously played Adolf Hitler in two films, The Magic Face (1951) and The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951).
Although Mr. and Mrs. Castle are given four wishes by the genie in this episode, it is clearly based on an old fable retold in many variations that usually involves the ironic result of three wishes given to two characters. One of the two characters usually wastes the first wish, and in a moment of anger the other wishes for something that is immediately regretted; then the third wish must be used to return things to some semblance of where they started out, exhausting the wishes for no gain. One well-known version of this plot is found in W.W. Jacobs' 1902 short story, 'The Monkey's Paw.'
The Nazi symbol on the flag is reversed. However, the symbol on Arthur Castle's sleeve is correct as Adolf Hitler used it, as in "SS."
This episode takes place in 1960 and on April 30, 1945.