War of the Coprophages featured insect-like robots designed by roboticist and author Rodney Brooks. Morgan was also inspired by Orson Welles's 1938 radio broadcast of H.G. Wells's book "The War of the Worlds" (which had caused mass hysteria), with the episode's title being a direct reference to the novel (with the last part of the episode's title, "coprophages", referring to a dung eater). The town featured in this episode also takes place in—Miller's Grove—is a play on Grover's Mill, the setting of Orson Welles's 1938 radio adaptation. Originally, a scene featuring the sheriff discussing a noted case of hysteria from the 1930s was planned
Orson Welles footage is included in the documentaries "Working with Orson Welles" (1993), "Orson Welles: One Man Band" (1995), and most extensively "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead" (2018). "Too Much Johnson" is a 1938 comedy film written and directed by Welles. Designed as the cinematic aspect of Welles's Mercury Theatre stage presentation of William Gillette's 1894 comedy, the film was not completely edited or publicly screened. "Too Much Johnson" was considered a lost film until August 2013, with news reports that a pristine print had been discovered in Italy in 2008. A copy restored by the George Eastman House museum was