Bert and Ernie getting gifts for one another was a take on the 1905 Christmas story, "The Gift of the Magi," b O. Henry. In that story, a poor young couple each sell their most valuable possessions in order to afford Christmas gifts for one another; the husband sells his pocket watch to buy his wife a set of fine combs for her hair, while the wife sells her hair to a hairdresser to buy her husband a fob chain for his pocket watch. The original story ends with the gifts that were sacrificed for being virtually useless to the recipient (though they show the dedication the couple have to one another). There was no Mr. Hooper-type character to save the day.

The amount of snow on Big Bird when he leaves the roof changes when he walks down the stairs a few moments later.

Cookie Monster continuously burps over the contribution credits at the end.

When Big Bird and Patty check on Oscar following his ice skating accident, his original line was "Sure. I've been thrown out of better places than that." It was later re-dubbed in post-production (to "Let's go back and do it, again!"), as the original line was deemed too adult.

Featured in A Sesame Street Christmas Carol (2006)