Tom Kenny admitted that the animation shift to CGI (for both the movie and the series) caught him, some of his fellow-cast members, and even series creator Stephen Hillenburg by surprise. He stated in an interview "Hillenburg and we were a little unsure about the CGI thing. SpongeBob is such a determinedly 2D classic animated looking show." But their wariness was calmed by the producers of the new series, who were also responsible for the still-running original series, "They were able to find a way to take that CGI and lend it the same squashy, stretchy, kinetic, the craziness of 2D, classic animation. That was a puzzle they worked really, really hard to figure out, and I think are still learning on Kamp Koral. I think it's fun to have to learn new tricks when you've been doing something for a while."
Showrunner Vincent Waller stated on Twitter that Stephen Hillenburg was aware of the spin-off series, but retracted his statement the next day. He stated "Steve was aware it was being developed. Sadly he did not get to see it completed, I think it would have made him smile." The next day, Waller wrote, "When I said that last night, I was feeling it was right, but full disclosure. That time period has so much traumatic scar tissue for me. [cont] I had lost two friends to death in a short [sic] and it has kinked up my chronological memories of events into a bit of a slippery jumble for that entire block of time."
First SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off.
Missy Upton, one of the camp counselors, first appeared in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode Krusty Katering (2017).
In the episode "The Ho! Ho! Horror!" Santa Claus was originally going to be played by a live-action actor, but this was later changed.