dante used the colonial street set on the back lot for the mayfield place cul-de-sac. the set had once been used in 1987's "dragnet", also starring tom hanks. (coincidentally, the structure used as the peterson home in "the 'burbs" was used as the home of the character of "the virgin connie swail" in "dragnet".) at the time "the 'burbs" began production the colonial street set was being used as the location for "the new leave it to beaver" television series – the 1980s follow-up to "leave it to beaver", so the entire area 'reeked' of normalcy. dante said, "i asked [production designer] james spencer, a veteran of "poltergeist" and "gremlins" if he thought he could turn that street into the neighborhood we needed in that period of time. spencer rose to the challenge, and within a few days they began work on sketching out the proposed designs for the sets. spencer observed, "we had to be on the spot. due to the lack of time, it would have been ludicrous to do our drawing elsewhere."