Both of the parts were written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The first part was directed by Jeffrey Lynch and the second part was directed by Wes Archer. Tito Puente guest starrs in both parts. The idea of the story came from Matt Groening (creator of "The Simpsons"). The writers made his idea become an episode with two parts. The first part has many clues for who shot Mr. Burns becaues the writers wanted people to be able to figure it out. The episode's story came from the "Dallas" episode "A House Divided", where J. R. Ewing gets shot. Before the second part was broadcast, fans debated on who shot Mr. Burns. Fox started a contest about it over the summer of 1995.