[2] The episode was produced three weeks after starring actress Elizabeth Montgomery gave birth to her first child with her husband, series director William Asher.

[3] The episode was written by Sol Saks, the creator of the series, and initially aired September 17, 1964 on ABC.

[4] José Ferrer served as the episode's narrator, starting with the words, "Once upon a time...".

[7] The pilot is one of many episodes in the series that demonstrate that Samantha and Darrin have sexual desire for each other; as opposed to being depicted as sleeping in separate beds - as Rob and Laura Petrie are depicted as doing in the concurrently running The Dick Van Dyke Show - Samantha and Darrin are depicted sleeping in the same bed and expressing eagerness to do so.

in response to Samantha's statement that she is a witch, this exchange initiated a narrative that would be regularly repeated in television series into the 21st century.