Mikado is the name of an opera (by Gilbert and Sullivan) in which someone is deemed to have been executed without actually having been executed. Sounds like an ideal test strategy to me: yes, all the tests were executed, just not actually run.

when I saw the title I was expecting a reference to the opera. was wondering if they were somehow going to work in the exchange "Besides, I don't see how a man can cut off his own head." "A man might try." in reference to gradually removing bits of the old code.