A Star Is Burns play in the opening moments of the episode is a parody of "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer. The opening of Bart's film "The Eternal Struggle" is a reference to The Amazing Criswell's narration in "Plan 9 from Outer Space". Barney's film contains references to "Koyaanisqatsi", and the music of the film, which was composed by Philip Glass. Barney's film also features musical selections from the aria "Un bel di vedremo" from Act II, pt. 1 of Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly". In its original broadcast, "A Star Is Burns" finished 57th in the ratings for the week of February
Giacomo Puccini critics as to the artistic value of his work has always been divided. Grove Music Online described Puccini's strengths as a composer as follows: Puccini succeeded in mastering the orchestra as no other Italian had done before him, creating new forms by manipulating structures inherited from the great Italian tradition, loading them with bold harmonic progressions which had little or nothing to do with what was happening then in Italy, though they were in step with the work of French, Austrian and German colleagues. In his work on Puccini, Julian Budden describes Puccini as a gifted and original composer, noting