The President's tirade in Latin at the end loosely translates as: "Thank you, Lord. Am I to believe these things from a righteous God, a just God, a wise God? To hell with your punishments! I was your servant, your messenger on the earth; I did my duty. To hell with your punishments! And to hell with you!" The sentences, "Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem", literally translate as "To a cross with your punishments. To a cross with you." So an idiomatic translation of the last might be "Go crucify yourself."
The role of Bartlet's father was played by series producer and writer Lawrence O'Donnell. Originally just drafted in to help out at a table read, director Thomas Schlamme found O'Donnell's interpretation of the President's father to be so interesting that he eventually offered him the role.
When Martin Sheen appeared on Inside The Actors Studio, host James Lipton told him that this episode was "one of the best episodes in the history of American television".
While reviewing plans for the President's news conference, Toby says, "The President taped an Easter message that looked like it was lit by Ed Wood!". Edward D. Wood Jr. is considered to be one of the classically bad directors of all time, his films include Bride of the Monster (1955) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957).
According to Aaron Sorkin, the Latin monologue in the National Cathedral was written in the language in order to avoid censorship by network NBC.