The episode is based on the comics stories "The Dead Yet Live" from Detective Comics #471 and "I Am the Batman!" and Detective Comics #471 both published in 1977, by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers.
The episode is also similar to the story featured in "World's Finest Comics #6" (1942), which is titled "The Secret of Bruce Wayne".
This is the first episode to feature several members of Batman's rogues gallery working together. Until now, each episode had featured only one enemy as the primary villain.