The character of Dr Rossum, voiced by William Sanderson, is approached in this episode by Batman and Robin for his knowledge and expertise in the field of robotics. Upon arrival at his office they are greeted by a number of small robotic toy "friends" who keep Rossum company. This is an homage to the character of J.F. Sebastian from Blade Runner (1982), in which J.F. is a genetic designer who lives a life of solitude and creates toy-like robots to keep him company, which he also refers to as his "friends". The character of J.F. Sebastian was also played by Sanderson.
Grant Walker is loosely modeled after Walt Disney, in that they are both theme park moguls who have built futuristic parks. Even the term "visioneer" is a takeoff on "imagineer," the term Walt used to describe the "imaginative engineers" who designed and built the attractions for Disneyland. His desire for Mr. Freeze to preserve him so that he can live forever is likely a reference to the long-standing urban myth that Walt Disney was cryogenically frozen.
Some of the "toys" Rossum had created are shown to be robot version of Krypto the Superdog, Streaky the Supercat, and Mr. Mxyzptlk.
The character of Dr. Rossum is named after the 1920 play Rossum's Universal Robots.
Dan O'Herlihy appeared in RoboCop (1987) opposite several other Batman veterans. Lead actor Peter Weller has voiced Batman in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 (2013), actor Ray Wise has voiced Commissioner Gordon in Batman: The Killing Joke (2016), and Miguel Ferrer was cousin to Batman actor George Clooney from Batman & Robin (1997) .