The episode uses the sound of a real marching band playing badly on purpose for the sound of Squidward's band, but according to sound designer Jeff Hutchens, he originally felt they didn't sound bad enough. Instead, he went to a musical instrument store and recorded two guys who worked at the loading dock, with no musical experience whatsoever, playing the instruments as badly as possible. While Hillenburg was amused by the end result, ultimately it didn't make the cut and the original idea was used in the final episode.
The ending song was originally supposed to be marching band music played well, but no matter what song they picked, they felt it was an underwhelming ending that didn't have the impact it was supposed to, nor was it very funny. Ultimately, the song "Sweet Victory" stood out to them, and became the iconic scene we all know of today.
