The reason why the story of Todd and Riley is explained in the opening song was because Disney considered that the children's audience would assume that Todd and Riley had replaced their parents, deciding that in the intro it is explained that they were adopted from a beginning.
The substitutes Conrad sends to Todd and Riley are meant to worsen situations at hand. Series creator Dan Santat affirms this is done in order to teach younger audiences to solve problems on their own.
To determine what would be the profession of Todd and Riley's adoptive parents, kindergarten and elementary school students completed surveys. The most selected answers were spies and daredevils.
Todd's middle name, Bartholomew, is a reference to the fact that his voice actor, Nancy Cartwright, plays Bart Simpson in The Simpsons.
In the series Riley is a fan of a singer named Dustin Dreamlake, which is a parody of Justin Timberlake.