It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 1, 2005, though it had premiered three days earlier at a special screening at the University of Vermont, Burlington.

Family Guy had been cancelled in 2002 due to low ratings, but was revived by Fox after reruns on Adult Swim became the cable network's most watched program, and more than three million DVDs of the show were sold.

Written by the series creator Seth MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin, much of the plot and many of the technical aspects of the episode, as well as the title, are direct parodies of the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock classic movie North by Northwest; in addition, the episode makes use of Bernard Herrmann's theme music from that film.

Peter is watching The Passion of the Christ and imagines that if he was Jesus, he would tell the Roman centurion to stop whipping him.

Unfortunately, Peter doesn't pay attention to the road, deciding instead to read a comic book while driving, and crashes the car into a tree.

They are forced to spend their entire honeymoon money on car repairs and are about to return home when Peter discovers that actor/director Mel Gibson has a private suite at a luxurious hotel nearby, "which he barely uses".

Peter is then given a message telling him that if he does not return the film to Gibson at his estate on top of Mount Rushmore, his wife will be killed.

As Peter and Lois are about to leave, Gibson discovers that the film has been replaced with dog feces, leading to a chase on the face of the mountain.

Murphy and the orchestra recorded an arrangement of Bernard Herrmann's score from North by Northwest, a film referenced multiple times in the episode.

During production, an episode of South Park was released entitled "The Passion of the Jew" that also featured Gibson as a prominent character.

"[15] Three days before the episode debuted on television, it was screened at the University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington, accompanied by an hour-long question-and-answer session with MacFarlane.

[19] In addition, the cast performed musical numbers from the Family Guy Live in Vegas comedy album.

He lists the following 29 shows (in chronological order), that he says Fox has to make room for: Dark Angel (lasted for 2 seasons and cult following), Titus (though Titus was facing cancellation the same year Family Guy was), Undeclared, Action, That '80s Show, Wonderfalls, Fastlane, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Skin, Girls Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts (the show that Seth MacFarlane worked on after Family Guy's cancellation), Firefly, Get Real, FreakyLinks, Wanda at Large, Costello (premiered before Family Guy hit the airwaves), The Lone Gunmen, A Minute with Stan Hooper, Normal, Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddie, The $treet, The American Embassy, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, The Tick, Luis, and Greg the Bunny.

[19] Australian-American actor Mel Gibson is prominently featured in the episode;[25][26] his voice was impersonated by André Sogliuzzo.

[13] Besides the title, the episode contains several references to Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 film North by Northwest,[29][30] including the scene where Lois is kidnapped by Gibson's associates, the two priests flying a crop-duster who chase Peter through a cornfield,[31] the final face-off between Peter, Lois and Gibson that takes place on Mount Rushmore,[27] and even its theme music as originally composed by Bernard Hermann.

[31] The fictional Park Barrington Hotel, where Peter and Lois steal Gibson's film, is located in Manhattan.

[33] To stop Meg and Chris from fighting, Brian reads to them from one of the few books Peter owns, a novelization of the 1980 film Caddyshack and quotes a line by Chevy Chase's character, Ty Webb.

[37] "MacFarlane penned the premiere segment, whose storyline largely involves Peter and Lois heading off on a second honeymoon to bring the passion back to a marriage that leaves her fantasizing about George Clooney during sex.

[41] Family Guy was the week's highest-rated show among teens and men in the 18 to 34 demographic,[42] and more than doubled Fox's average in its timeslot.

[23] Multimedia news and reviews website IGN was pleased to see Stewie and Brian get more screen time as a duo, something they thought had always been one of the show's biggest strengths.

[45] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe commented that the episode's material "would wear thin after a while if the character's weren't as distinct and endearing as they are, most notably Stewie, the wrathful infant.

"[46] Critics reacted positively to the opening sequence; in his review of the episode, Mark McGuire of The Times Union wrote: "the first minute or so of the resurrected Family Guy ranks among the funniest 60 seconds I've seen so far this season.

Melanie McFarland of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer stated that "Three years off the air has not made the 'Family Guy' team that much more creative".

[53] Peter Shin, director of the episode, won the Annie Award for Best Directing in an Animated Television Production.