In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gunn explained where the idea of doing “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” came from, revealing he came up with the whole story in one sitting:
“When I was a kid, I loved the Star Wars Holiday Special, but I also loved Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. […] So the idea of doing a holiday special with the Guardians was both a really funny idea to me and also something I really wanted to do. And once I sat down and started trying to figure out what the story was, the Kevin Bacon idea came up very, very quickly, and I wrote the whole story within a few hours.“
I know Gunn displays some reverence for holiday specials of the past, but I’m just glad the quality of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” did not influence his project. “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” could have gone wrong fairly quickly — it’s incredibly cheesy, takes place mostly on Earth, and, quite frankly, is centered on a concept that is ridiculous even for a “Guardians” film. Of course, it all works in spades. In typical Gunn fashion, he positions the events of the “Holiday Special” as a vital part of the almost decade-long journey we’ve been on with the Guardians.