This episode was the 1st episode produced, but aired last in the first season. It was meant to air first as the first independent episode away from "The Tracey Ullman Show" (1987), but animation errors caused the episode to be pushed to the end of season 1 which would explain why on the original airing of the show as well as on The Comedy Network in Canada (which is now the CTV Comedy Channel) in August 2007 it used the 1981 20th Century Fox Television logo with the 1965 fanfare as it was made before they changed the theme in 1989.
The producers considered aborting the series if the next episode, Bart the Genius (1990), turned out as this episode, but fortunately it turned out to suffer only a few, easily fixable problems. Afterwards, the producers entreated Fox to postpone the series premiere for several months. The premiere then switched to Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (1989), which had to be aired in December, being a Christmas special. This ensured that more time could be spent fixing the animation problems and rewriting much of this episode.
In one scene, Bart and Lisa watch a Happy Little Elves cartoon. For some reason yet to be determined, Kent Butterworth had decided to have a bear tear off one of the elves's heads and drink its blood. Needless to say, this did not go over well with the production crew.
Blackboard: I will not yell "Fire" in a crowded classroom.