The penultimate film (voice) project for Paul Newman. He would lend his voice as narrator for the British film release The Meerkats (2008) just prior to his death.
Although the "ghostlight" in this film is referenced in Cars (2006), this short does not take place "in the middle" of that film (that is, a "previously unseen moment"), but at an undetermined time afterward. This is evident in that Mack, Lightning's transport truck, is present (but has no lines).
The first feature related Pixar short film to have a post-credits scene.
When the Sheriff mentions "the hot breath of Zozobra" he is talking about Zozobra ("Old Man Gloom") the giant marionette effigy that is burned every autumn during Fiestas de Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico.