Tom Kenny's first time voicing Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy who are the young depictions of their elderly selves retired from the original show.
"The Patterfly Effect" marks the transition to a storyboard-driven format, as opposed to the script-driven format used previously. The show also got a crew shake up separate from the main SpongeBob SquarePants series.
The series is a prequel to SpongeBob SquarePants.
Vincent Waller explained in a tweet that he felt that Patrick's parents (as they appeared in "I'm With Stupid" and several other episodes) were "boring as characters" and "not entertaining or fun," so their appearances and names were changed for the spinoff show.