"Rosebud" was directed by Wes Archer and written by John Swartzwelder. It was the first episode to be executive-produced by David Mirkin, who was the show runner for the fifth and sixth seasons of the show. Supervising director David Silverman describes the episode as "one of the more challenging ones" to direct. The Ramones (Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, C. J. Ramone and Marky Ramone) guest-star in the episode as themselves. The episode is largely a parody of the 1941 film "Citizen Kane" and the title references Charles Foster Kane's dying word "Rosebud". The episode also contains references to "The Wizard of Oz", "Planet of the Apes", George Burns, Charles Lindbergh, The Rolling Stones and Adolf Hitler.