This episode was dedicated to the loving memory of Fred Rogers, host of the long running series Mister Roger's Neighborhood from 1968-2001, shown on PBS. The episode aired four months after his passing.
The dedication card before the closing credits read; "In Loving Memory of Fred Rogers 1928-2003. The neighborhood won't be the same without you." A short instrumental remix of Won't You Be My Neighbor (the Mister Roger's Neighborhood theme song) was also played during the dedication.
The trolley that also appears was also reminiscent of the one that appeared in the show.
Fred Rogers inspired Angela Santomero to earn a degree in developmental psychology and go into educational television. She and the other producers of Blue's Clues used many of Rogers's techniques in the show, such as using child developmental and educational research, and having the host speak directly to the camera and transition to a make-believe world.
Angela would later produce a spinoff of the PBS Kids show Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood in 2012, produced by Out of the Blue Productions (the same producers of Super Why!, another of Santomero's developed projects for PBS Kids).
This is the first Season 5 episode to use the Season 6 Original Picturetrack. It was not put to permanent use until Body Language.
This episode introduces a new format for the clues. They are magically animated onto Joe's notebook paper and they sing and talk. Joe is not shown drawing the clues and does not explain how to draw them.
The 1812 Overture plays as the fireworks are going off.
There is no skidoo segment in this episode.
Joe is only in the Blue's Clues house during the Blue's Clues theme song and during thinking time, as he was outside for Mailtime.
This was Up's only appearance with a female voice.
This is the sixth episode where a viewer says No A Clue from Words and Hide and Seek.
This was the second time that Blue did not join in the Mail song. The first time it happened was in Blue's Big Costume Party.
In this episode, during the Mailtime Segment, there is a game of freeze dance. At one point, the music stops and there is a boy that is supposed to be frozen, but his visible reflection shows that he is still jumping up and down.
At the end of the letter, one of the boys gives Joe and Blue a stamp for the game to add to their passport, which is delivered through the letter.
When everyone is gathered for the fireworks, Periwinkle announces that there is five seconds until the fireworks. Then, Joe apparently freezes time and says that they should count down from five. Only once the countdown begins does time apparently start again.
This episode is available along with episodes of other Nick Jr. series on the compilation DVD "Nick Jr. Celebrates Spring!". It is also the last of the four episodes included on the Blue's Room DVD Fred's Birthday.
Snail appears in four locations instead of the usual three in this episode.
He previously appeared four times in "Playing Store" and possibly "Shy".
He is also among the choices in the second round of Periwinkle's Guess Who game.
This episode first aired in primetime - 8 P.M. at night, one of two special episodes shown in primetime during the summer of 2003, the other is Blue Takes You to School.
In the Mailtime Segment, since Joe was already outside, Mailbox does not have to extend all the way inside the house today. Joe sits right down on the sidewalk to read the letter.
The fireworks were shaped like some characters' faces.
The Mailtime footage for this episode is very similar to Magenta Comes Over where Joe runs outside from the festival all the way to Mailbox while singing the whole song.
Tickety and Slippery's puppets have appeared from Puppets.
Joe wears an orange squared shirt.
When the viewer said "no" on the third clue, he said it weirdly.
This is the first episode to feature Periwinkle's regular animation in the credits, as his wand was removed. He previously had it in Blue's Predictions. Due to the fast scrolling credits, there isn't enough time for Blue to appear at the end barking and waving goodbye. This also happens in Body Language. The other times in Season 5 and all of Season 6 she didn't appear for this were due to animation decisions.
This is another episode not to end with Blue's goodbye barking and waving animation.
In the letter, the kids were dancing to the music from the Story Wall.
Marlee Matlin is visibly pregnant with her third child, Tyler, in this episode. Funnily enough, she was pregnant with her fourth child, Isabelle, when the episode originally aired. The production crew attempted to obscure her growing belly by having her hold books in front of her, having her stand behind a counter, etc.
Goofs
Victoria Pontecorvo is credited as Victoria Pontecoro.
When Joe was getting his notebook from Sidetable, the eggplant parmigiana Sidetable made was on top of the drawer. But when Joe started singing, suddenly, the phone was there for some reason.
When Joe gets ready to draw the "Flashing Colors" clue, he first talks about how he is going to pull out his red crayon to draw the color red, but because of the new animation format, he is not seen talking about or pulling out any of the other color crayons. In fact, at the rate by the animation proceeds, it seems like Joe never had time to pull out any of the other crayons at all.
Marlee does not say, "That we wanna do" in a speaking voice.
