In the original comics, all four turtles had red bandanas. For the TV show, TMNT creator Peter Laird decided to give each Turtle a different color to make it easier to tell them apart:
- Leonardo has a blue bandana.
- Donatello has a purple bandana
- Raphael has a red bandana.
- Michelangelo has an orange bandana.
At the time of its final episode, it was the longest running cartoon in American TV history. However this record was beaten two years later by Les Simpson (1989).
Townsend Coleman said the catch phrase "Cowabunga" was not scripted. He just blurted it out in an ad-lib and the studio liked it so much is became Michealangelos catch phrase.
In this series, Splinter and Hamato Yoshi are the same person. In the original comic story, as well as both Les Tortues Ninja (1990) and Les Tortues Ninja (2003) , Splinter was Hamato Yoshi's pet rat. Nickelodeon would later reuse this plot device for both most of their media adaptions (minus Ninja Turtles (2014) and Ninja Turtles: Teenage Years (2023) due to Hamato Yoshi being phased out of both versions) and the IDW comic book series (due to Nickelodeon licensing the rights to them).
Casey Jones never once took off his mask throughout the course of the show. Despite that, in the comics and other Ninja Turtle adaptations, he has been seen without his mask on.