According to R.L. Stine's autobiography, the crew was going to use a rubber worm in the scene where Carly Beth bites into the sandwich and finds a half-chewed worm, but Kathryn Long insisted on eating a real worm to make it realistic. He later revealed it took twelve attempts with a new worm each time.
Over 14 million people watched it when it first aired as a Halloween special on Fox network instead of their Fox Kids lineup, which the rest of the series ran on.
This episode is based on Goosebumps book #11.
The original premiere of this episode and its VHS release include R.L. Stine as the episode's host.