Production
"Homer Alone" was written by David M. Stern. He had noticed that most of the writers were pitching stories about Bart and Homer, and he thought a "deeper vein of comedy" could be reached by having Marge suffer from a nervous breakdown. Executive producer James L. Brooks immediately approved the idea. Originally, Marge's trip was to a distressed mother's institute so they could show "what made Marge tick." However, the plot was not well received at the table read for the episode. The writers then re-wrote much of the episode, switching the institute to a spa. They also added a video appearance from the fictional actor Troy McClure, voiced by Phil Hartman. According to executive producer Al Jean, the writers often used McClure as a "panic button" when they felt an episode needed more humor. The episode's title is a play on the 1990 film Home Alone; David Stern's brother Daniel had starred in the movie as one of the main antagonists.
The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland. The scene at the train station where Marge leaves for Rancho Relaxo includes a brief cameo appearance of a character modeled after Simpsons director Jim Reardon. Reardon dislikes flying, and took trains whenever possible, so the animators always tried to include him in scenes at a train station. Susie Dietter served as assistant director for the episode and animated several of the scenes for the subplot with Bart, Lisa, Patty and Selma. In a scene where Homer sings a song to Maggie, he was designed to look dishevelled because the writers had wanted him to look drunk, although no attention was called to it.
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