The prosthetics were made by the Oscar-winning make-up artist Matthew W. Mungle, who worked on Edward Scissorhands, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Schindler's List.
Jerry Cantrell is a big fan of the HBO series Deadwood (2004) and is friends with actor W. Earl Brown (Alan Poole McLard), who played Dan Dority in the show. Cantrell also appeared in the first season of Deadwood in the background in one scene.
The name of the character Alan Poole McLard is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe. "Stanley Eisen" is the real name of Paul Stanley from KISS. "Nesta Cleveland" is a reference to Bob Marley's real name, Robert Nesta Marley. "Unta Gleeben Glabben Globben Globin" is a reference to the song "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard, which was later sampled in "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" by The Offspring, "Call Me What You Like (If You Like Rock-N-Roll)" by Puffy AmiYumi and also "Rape of Ages" by The Mentors.
Alan Poole McLard tells Donnie that he can't sing "Happy Birthday" because it is a copyrighted song, he didn't have clearance and it is very expensive to use it, but Donnie decided to sing it anyway and the song was bleeped out. When this short film was shot in 2013, the cost of public use of "Happy Birthday to You" was around $1,500 or a penalty of $150,000 if used without permission. In 2015, a federal court judge in Los Angeles declared the song belongs in the public domain, dealing a blow to the Warner Chappell Music that had been collecting royalties from the song for decades. The company agreed to pay back $14 million to those who have paid licensing fees to use the song. "Happy Birthday" was written by sisters Parry and Mildred Hill in 1893, and is often claimed to be the world's most popular song.