In the previous season, Sheldon's plans to go to Germany seemed to fulfill what Sheldon said in Season 1 of The Big Bang Theory (2007), specifically The Pancake Batter Anomaly (2008), where he said he was abroad in Germany as a teenager, except for one thing: this season he's going as a student, and he had said he was a visiting professor. This episode may explain this inconsistency, that Sheldon was lying to cover up the events portrayed in this episode as being embarrassing to him.
Robert Picardo is the second Star Trek actor to play a teacher to Sheldon Cooper, a huge fan of the Star Trek franchise. He played the Emergency Medical Hologram on Star Trek: Voyager (1995). The first actor to do this is Wallace Shawn who played Grand Nagus Zek on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993).
The chore chart Missy drew up has Mandy making lunch in Monday and dusting on Saturday; Missy making breakfast on Sunday and Saturday, and making lunch on Monday and Wednesday; Georgie scrubbing the toilet on Sunday, taking out the trash Monday, sweeping the porch Wednesday, doing the dishes Friday, and mowing the lawn Saturday; and George washing the dishes Sunday and Thursday, grocery shopping Monday, mopping the floors Tuesday, making breakfast Wednesday, doing the laundry Friday, and taking out the trash Saturday.