It is a loose adaptation of the Uncle Scrooge comic book story "The Horseradish Story" by Carl Barks.
It was notably the only episode of the show's first season to have its animation produced by another studio other than TMS Entertainment; the animation was produced by Burbank Films in the Philippines, with supervision by Richard Trueblood and Roz Phillips.
The main antagonist, Fritter Away, and his ancestor, Diddle Away, are both named for phrases meaning to waste or squander money.
Scrooge reveals that he gained his fortune by selling his ancestor's gold watch to stake a claim in the Klondike Gold Rush (which occurred in the 1890s). Even if he had made his fortune at an extremely young age, that would mean that Scrooge would be almost 100 years old, or older, than in the series. Canonically, Scrooge lived to be exactly 100 years old.
Duckworth tells Scrooge to say hello to Duck Cousteau if he sees him when Scrooge was getting ready to dive. This is a reference to Jacques Cousteau, the famed French marine biologist and explorer.