diff --git a/cms/static/js/spec/create_sinon.js b/cms/static/js/spec/create_sinon.js
index 6dce674f21..759015ef78 100644
--- a/cms/static/js/spec/create_sinon.js
+++ b/cms/static/js/spec/create_sinon.js
@@ -1,4 +1,20 @@
 define(["sinon"], function(sinon) {
+    /* These utility methods are used by Jasmine tests to create a mock server or
+     * get reference to mock requests. In either case, the cleanup (restore) is done with
+     * an after function.
+     *
+     * This pattern is being used instead of the more common beforeEach/afterEach pattern
+     * because we were seeing sporadic failures in the afterEach restore call. The cause of the
+     * errors were that one test suite was incorrectly being linked as the parent of an unrelated
+     * test suite (causing both suites' afterEach methods to be called). No solution for the root
+     * cause has been found, but initializing sinon and cleaning it up on a method-by-method
+     * basis seems to work. For more details, see STUD-1040.
+     */
+
+    /**
+     * Get a reference to the mocked server, and respond
+     * to all requests with the specified statusCode.
+     */
     var fakeServer = function (statusCode, that) {
         var server = sinon.fakeServer.create();
         that.after(function() {
@@ -8,6 +24,11 @@ define(["sinon"], function(sinon) {
         return server;
     };
 
+    /**
+     * Keep track of all requests to a fake server, and
+     * return a reference to the Array. This allows tests
+     * to respond for individual requests.
+     */
     var fakeRequests = function (that) {
         var requests = [];
         var xhr = sinon.useFakeXMLHttpRequest();