This ambiance of this story was clearly based on the classic 1947 film "Miracle on 34th Street", starring, among others, a very young Natalie Wood.
Rick Springfield was added as Ned Nickerson, Nancy Drew's boyfriend in Season 2's "Will the Real Santa Claus?...." episode. This was one of the last appearances of Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy in the series.
Series regular William Schallert, guest star William Campbell and the episode's director, actor Michael Pataki had all guest starred together in the classic episode of Star Trek (1966) from the show's second season, The Trouble with Tribbles (1967). Campbell and Pataki portrayed Klingons paying an unwelcome visit to a space station run by Schallert who was particularly annoyed at their presence. Over a decade before their shared "Trek" credit, Campbell and Schallert had also been castmates on the classic films The People Against O'Hara (1951), Holiday for Sinners (1952) and The High and the Mighty (1954).