At around 16- and 31-minute marks the "cigarette burn" effect appears in the top right corner of the screen. This used to appear in old films indicating the change between reels on the film projectors.
This is the TV special directorial debut of Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino. Giacchino had previously written the scores for Doutor Estranho (2016) and the Jon Watts-directed Spider-Man trilogy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was a co-composer on Thor: Amor e Trovão (2022). He earlier directed one short and one animated series episode.
This is Marvel Studios' first Halloween special.
When addressing the monster hunters, Verusa states, "where monsters dwell." "Where Monsters Dwell" is a 1970-75 Marvel comic which reprinted older monster short stories. Some of the monster heads hanging on the walls appear to be tributes to these monsters that appeared in the comics.
Upon her arrival Elsa (Laura Donnelly) and her stepmother Verussa (Harriet Sansom Harris) have a conversation in a hallway where monsters are depicted on murals in the background. Among them is one that resembles the comic book appearance of Gorr the god butcher, the most recent villain of Thor Love & Thunder.