This episode was written by Marv Wolfman, who wrote "The New Teen Titans" comics for 16 years - and co-created Starfire, Raven and Cyborg.
First appearance of Aqualad on this series. According to director Alex Soto the idea to use Aqualad came from seeing Justice League (2001) doing an Aquaman episode and the creative team on this show thought Aqualad would be a great one-off character. DC has always been particular about who the creative team could use so they never thought Aqualad would end up coming back for another appearance.
The version of Trident in this series seems to be organic. In the comics, Trident appeared as a thief who operated in New York City. In truth, three criminals were taking turns at committing several large robberies. It was believed that Trident was only one person. Eventually, the Sammy Jaye Trident tried to cheat his two partners out of their share of loot. The other two killed Sammy, and his costumed body was discovered by the New Teen Titans. It was Starfire who eventually figured out that there was more than one Trident. This story was told in
The New Teen Titans (vol. 1) #33, which was also written by Marv Wolfman.
When Robin gives Aqualad a Titan communicator, it plays a shortened, 8-bit version of the Teen Titans theme song.
Tramm the Fish-Boy is named for series producer consultant Tramm Wigzell.