The episode makes cultural references to television series such as The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and Peanuts, as well as films such as The Devil and Daniel Webster, Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Lost Boys.

In the wraparound, Bart introduces each of the three segments by walking through a gallery of paintings and each time choosing one of them as the focus of his story.

On the back of the photo, Homer has written that, in return for Marge giving him her hand in marriage, he pledges his soul to her forever; therefore, it was not his property to sell at the time of his deal with Ned.

Bart is relieved as he is finally able to rest, but is once again petrified when the gremlin appears in the back window of the ambulance, holding Ned's severed head.

The family breaks the fourth wall and wishes the audience a happy Halloween; they then begin humming "Hark!

O'Brien had just begun his tenure on September 13, 1993, roughly a month before the 1993 Treehouse of Horror episode aired.

"Treehouse of Horror IV" was directed by David Silverman and co-written by Conan O'Brien (his final assignment for The Simpsons; by the time this episode aired, his brand-new late night show on NBC had been on for a little over a month), Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, Greg Daniels, Dan McGrath, and Bill Canterbury.

He also thought Harry Shearer did a good job of playing Flanders in a much darker way, while remaining very true to the character.

[7] Many scenes had to be cut to shorten the segment, including one that showed Homer's severed head being used as a bowling ball by a demon in hell.

It was inspired by The Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", in which William Shatner's character is inside an airplane watching a gremlin tear apart the wing.

[6] Oakley said there was a lot of work put into the design of the gremlin in "Terror at 5+1⁄2 Feet" to make him scary "within The Simpsons universe".

Üter, a German exchange student, makes his first appearance in this segment; he was conceived as a one-time joke, but reappeared in later episodes because Mirkin felt he was "such a perfect stereotype".

[8] The paintings seen in these segments are parodies of well-known works, including van Gogh's Self-Portrait, September 1889, Munch's The Scream, Magritte's The Son of Man, David's The Death of Marat, Dalí's The Persistence of Memory, Picasso's Three Musicians and Escher's Ascending and Descending, all featuring members of the Simpson family.

[10] The "jury of the damned" includes John Wilkes Booth, Lizzie Borden, John Dillinger, Blackbeard, Benedict Arnold, Richard Nixon (who points out that he is not yet dead)[a][1] and the starting lineup of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers, a reference to their days as the Broad Street Bullies, when they were notorious for their violent playing style.

[4] Shortly after she finds the tome, she mistakes Bart's fearful attempts at getting her attention as impressions of Shemp and Curly Howard of the Three Stooges.

Bart floating outside Lisa's bedroom window is a parody of The Lost Boys as well as Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot.

They particularly liked the scenes in Hell where Homer is punished by the Devil, and Chief Wiggum's attempts to deal with Dracula (who he thinks is a mummy) by ordering the Egyptian wing of the Springfield museum to be destroyed.

[12] Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode an A grade and called it "one of the very best" Halloween specials, although said "Treehouse of Horror V" was better.

[15] Kim Nowacki of Yakima Herald-Republic named "Treehouse of Horror IV" her "all-time favorite" episode.