The only characters from the TV series that appear in the movie are Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) and Salem (Nick Bakay).
Aired during the third season of Sabrina the teenage witch the tv series
While sword fighting in the past, Sabrina comments, "Hey, watch it. You try doing this backwards and in high heels." This is a reference to a line misattributed to Ginger Rogers in that she did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels. The line actually originated in a 1982 "Frank and Ernest" newspaper comic by Bob Thaves as "Sure he was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did, ...backwards and in high heels."
Paula Hart sold the idea of a Sabrina TV movie to ABC, but her daughter Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina Spellman) didn't want to work over the show's summer hiatus. Paula knew Melissa always wanted to do a remake of Roman Holiday (1953), so she told the writer to make a Sabrina-version of the movie, which convinced Melissa to do it.