This is the first episode to carry the title, "Saturday Night Live". The show had previously been titled "NBC's Saturday Night" to avoid confusion with the ABC series Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell (1975), which aired less than a year.
Real, live leeches were used in the sketch. They were provided by Eduardo Macagno, a young professor in the biology department at Columbia University in New York. Research ethics required Professor Macagno to safeguard the well-being of the leeches during their transport to and from the SNL studio, in a glass jar of spring water, on the NYC subway. The best part, according to the professor, was getting to sit in the audience and watch his favorite band perform: Santana.