A conscious decision was made to make the world of Gato de Botas (2011) very different from that depicted in the "Shrek" films. In the latter, the backgrounds and stylizations are very fairy tale. Here, it has a distinctly Spanish feel with warmer, more orange colors.
Unlike the Shrek films, which were in production for only 3 years (except for the first which was in production for 4 1/2-5 years), Gato de Botas (2011) was in production for 7 1/2 years. This film entered development in 2004 just after the release of Shrek 2 (2004).
Gato de Botas (2011) alludes heavily to A Máscara do Zorro (1998), a film which also starred Antonio Banderas as the lead.
The animators did not need to bring in any real cats to the studio to study their movements; they simply looked at any of the millions of cat videos on YouTube.
Antonio Banderas participated in a viral marketing event for this film by posing in photos of himself at a screening, surrounded by cats.