The hotel featured is the Grand Hotel, Brighton which was bombed by the IRA in 1984 in a failed attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who was attending the Conservative Party conference.
The idea for the script was based on a real incident where people had their water supply closed as something had been dumped in a nearby reservoir.
In 2004, the Coca-Cola company introduced a bottled water product line named 'Dasani' in the UK. Media stories circulated that the water was not actual spring water, as many of its competitor lines were, but filtered tap water. The resulting backlash, and a later find that the product contained higher-than-permitted levels of bromate, led to the withdrawal of the Dasani product line in the UK. Press coverage of the saga negatively compared the events to the storyline of this episode.
This was the show's first Christmas special since Thicker Than Water (1983) to have any part of the storyline actually set on Christmas Day.
Final appearances by Dennis Lill and Wanda Ventham, as Alan and Pamela Parry. They feature, very briefly, (in non-speaking roles), as guests at the Christmas party in Rodney's dream/nightmare at the beginning of the episode.