This is the last Disney half hour featurette to made by Walt Disney Animation Studios and to be released in theaters until Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017).
Like Mickey's Christmas Carol, this short casts well known characters in new roles. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pete and Horace Horsecollar and before long, Pluto, have appeared in shorts since the earliest days of Disney animation. The weasel guards are reminiscent of the weasels that appear in the Mr Toad short from 1949.
The final Disney theatrical animated production to utilize hand-painted cels. Fittingly, The Rescuers Down Under (1990), the film that this accompanied in theaters, was the first to be produced entirely using CAPS, Disney's then-new digital ink-and-paint system.