Neil Patrick Harris guest stars and his character confesses his love of Broadway and performing. In 2014 NPH won a Tony Award for Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Early in this episode, Rachel (Lea Michele) tries to convince herself that Broadway star Patti LuPone is her birth mother. Later, Rachel and Shelby (Idina Menzel) sing a duet of "I Dreamed a Dream," Fantine's most prominent song from the musical 'Les Misérables'. Patti LuPone created the role of Fantine in the original London production of 'Les Misérables'; as a child, Lea Michele played Young Cosette and Young Éponine in the original Broadway production of 'Les Misérables', and she sang the role of Adult Éponine for a 2008 Hollywood Bowl concert production. Michele was asked to take the role of adult Éponine in the 2006 Broadway revival of 'Les Misérables', but she chose instead to stay with 'Spring Awakening'. In keeping with the theme of the episode and Rachel's search for her mother, the character of Fantine is one who had to give up her baby daughter and is haunted by it.
This episode, along with a few others, features both Jonathan Groff and Idina Menzel. Groff was the voice of Kristoff in the Disney movie Frozen (2013) and Menzel was the voice of Elsa in the same film.
When Mr. Schuester is showing Bryan Ryan the Year Book photo of the Glee club, Noah Puckerman is listed as "Nathan Puckerman" and Tina Cohen-Chang is listed as "Tina C.".