This episode is ripped from the headlines of the Brooke Astor story. Anthony D. Marshall was accused of mistreating his mother, afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, in 2006. Along with reducing her medications and not maintaining her quarters, rumors circulated that he was helping himself to her estate by giving himself raises, selling beloved paintings and giving unapproved money to theater productions. A petition for change of guardianship was filed by Mrs. Astor's grandson Phillip Marshall in July 2006, which was granted along with her removal to a hospital for recovery and finally transfer to one of her homes where she died in 2007. That same year criminal charges were filed against Anthony and an estate attorney, both resulting in guilty verdicts on October 8, 2009.
The song from the beginning of the episode is Pride by Syntax.
According to her friends, the victim was looking for a "prince." In the opening scene, her yoga instructor delivered her lost slipper, reminiscent of Cinderella.
Doris Roberts plays a mother of two men, the youngest of whom seems to be her clear favorite, the eldest of whom she apparently neglected during his childhood (she didn't even know if he had allergies). This is remarkably similar to her most famous character, Marie Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond (1996), who adored her youngest son and often ignored her eldest.