The episode was written by Joel H. Cohen, John Frink, Don Payne and Carolyn Omine while Jim Reardon served as the director. It was the first "Treehouse of Horror" since the original special to not employ "scary names" in the credits. According to executive producer Ian Maxtone-Graham, this was due to the September 11 terrorist attacks, after which the "Simpsons" staff tried to be more serious and sensitive. However, according to current show runner Al Jean, the "scary names" were dropped because they were too difficult to come up with. The episode contains numerous references and parodies to science fiction and horror works, including "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Demon Seed", "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars". The episode also features Pierce Brosnan and Matthew Perry as guest stars.