Although character and production design is copied directly from Green Lantern: First Flight (2009), this is essentially a reboot of the previous film happening in a different time line. For example, in First Flight, Arisa is already established as a Green Lantern and Hal Jordan is the newcomer while in Emerald Knights, she is the rookie and Hal Jordan is the trainer. In First Flight, Sinestro obtains the yellow power ring and becomes the villain while in Emerald Knights, he's still a member of the Green Lantern Corps and his fate as leader of the Sinestro Corps is predicted to happen much later. Finally in First Flight, the individual power batteries were eliminated as was the need for regular recharging and the Oath was only used on special occasions. In Emerald Knights, the individual batteries are restored, the rings are recharged at regular intervals and the Oath is recited with each recharging (which is more consistent with the comic book story lines).
At the end of the film Hal Jordan tells Arisia he will tell her the story of an adventure where the only backup he had was a squirrel. This is a reference to Ch'p, the squirrel-like Green Lantern from the comic book series who appears in background shots in this film.
Two of the segments are based on the stories of Alan Moore: "Mogo Doesn't Socialize" and "Tygers". Only the illustrators, Dave Gibbons and Kevin O'Neill receive screen credit for the original work, as was the case for Gibbons on the screen adaptation of Watchmen (2009). This is because Moore, displeased by earlier adaptations of his stories, now typically refuses to be credited for subsequent ones.
Nathan Fillion provides the voice of Hal Jordan. Fillion was the "star" of a popular homemade fan video that was designed as a fake trailer for the live-action film of Lanterna Verde (2011).
Arisia, the teen-aged Green Lantern, is named after the home of the mentally powerful race that supplies "Lenses" to the Galactic Patrol in Edward E. Smith's "Lensman" books. The Green Lantern comic was heavily influenced by the "Lensman" books.