The fictional (and unseen) theater critic who reviews Murray's play is named "John Stymetz", an allusion to the notoriously blunt and provocatively negative theater critic John Simon.
Murray's wife, Marie (Joyce Bulifant), is very visibly pregnant in this episode. In real life, Bulifant gave birth to her son, John Asher, in January 1971, shortly after this episode was shot.
Gavin MacLeod spoke about Murray L. Slaughter in the Television Academy Interviews. He said after a career as a news writer, Murray would retire to a second career as artistic director and playwright for one of many theater troupes in Minneapolis. This would make him much happier than he had ever been at WJM.
Rhoda reveals that she went to high school with Barbra Streisand.