The episode makes several references to The Beatles:
- Their first album, Meet the Be Sharps, is a parody of the Meet the Beatles album.
- Moe's Tavern changes its name to Moe's Cavern, a reference to the Cavern Club in Liverpool where the Beatles frequently performed in the early 1960s.
- Chief Wiggum, thrown out of the band because he was "too Village People", mirrors Pete Best, an early member of the Beatles who was replaced by Ringo Starr.
- Right after the Be Sharps record "Baby On Board", their manager says, "You've just recorded your first number one." This was spoken by Beatles producer George Martin right after the group had recorded "Please Please Me".
- Nigel telling Homer to keep his marriage a secret is similar to Brian Epstein advising John Lennon to do the same with his marriage to Cynthia Lennon.
- Principal Skinner's reputation as the "funny one" is an ironic reference to George Harrison's reputation as the "Quiet Beatle."
- The cover of Bigger Than Jesus, the Be Sharps' second album, features the group walking on water, which is a direct parody of the art on the Beatles' album Abbey Road.
- The name is a reference to a controversial quote made by John Lennon in 1966. Bart references this by asking, "What did you do [to lose your popularity]? Screw up like the Beatles and say you were bigger than Jesus?", to which Homer replies "All the time. That was the title of our second album."
- At the end of the episode, the album's back cover is revealed, on which Homer is seen turned away from the camera, as opposed to the rest of the band. This is a parody of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP reverse, in which Paul McCartney is in the same position.
- Barney's Japanese conceptual artist girlfriend is a parody of Yoko Ono. Their song repeats the phrase "Number 8" and a burp by Barney, a reference to the Beatles' "Revolution 9".
- The group performing atop Moe's Tavern at the end of the episode is a parody of the Beatles' impromptu concert on the Apple Corps rooftop during their Get Back recording sessions in 1969, hence George Harrison's line, "It's been done." In addition, the Be Sharps are wearing the same outfits as the Beatles during the rooftop concert scene: Barney in a brown fur coat (John), Homer in a bright red coat (Ringo), Skinner in a black suit (Paul), and Apu in a black Mongolian lamb coat with green trousers (George). After the performance, Homer says, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition", paraphrasing a quote by Lennon at the end of the Beatles rooftop performance.
- The press conference that was making the reporters laugh is a direct reference to The Beatles press conference in 1964 when they first came to America and had all the reporters laughing
When George Harrison arrived at the recording studio in West Los Angeles to record his lines, the casting director told the episode's show runners, Al Jean and Mike Reiss, that Harrison was coming and that they were not allowed to tell anybody about it because it was intended to be a secret to the staff. Jean, Reiss, and Matt Groening went to see Harrison in the studio, and when they returned to the writer's room, Groening said, "Guess who I just met? George Harrison!", not knowing that it was supposed to be a secret. Harrison arrived at the studio by himself without any entourage or bodyguards. Groening recalls that Harrison was "pretty glum", and he was unenthusiastic when the staff asked him questions about the Beatles. However, when Groening asked Harrison about the Wonderwall Music album, he suddenly "perked up" because it was one of his solo albums that he was rarely questioned on.
The vocals of the Be Sharps were done by The Dapper Dans, the barbershop quartet who sing on Main Street USA at Disneyland. According to the DVD commentary, for years they still got requests for "Baby on Board" and happily obliged.
Some of the items discarded by Homer as "junk" at the swap meet: the US Constitution; Action Comics #1 (first appearance of Superman; in 2010, a copy sold for a million dollars); violin signed "Stradivarius"; and a sheet of stamps in which "the airplane is upside-down" (one of these 1918 "Jenny" stamps sold for $525,000 in 2005).