Disney used this TV movie to test the waters of turning Disney Parks attractions into movies. What followed was Mission to Mars (2000), The Country Bears (2002), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), The Haunted Mansion (2003) and others. Only "Pirates" became a continued franchise.
Every time the hotel is seen from the outside, the Hollywood sign is seen behind it. In the 1939 sequence, the sign reads "Hollywoodland" which was the what the sign said back in those times.
The Sally Shine character looks are based on Shirley Temple who was a popular child star around that time. Actress Lindsay Ridgeway also played the singing voice of a very similar character in the film Cats Don't Dance (1997).
Unlike the theme park attraction, this film has no connection to The Twilight Zone (1959). Coincidentally, Amzie Strickland(Abigail Gregory) did have a minor role in The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (1960), an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959).
Steve Gutenberg and Nia Peeples would co-star in another TV movie together with 2015's Lavalantula.