Like other musical Filmation properties the Archies and the Hardy Boys before them, a live action version of the Groovie Goolies briefly toured in 1971, lip-synching to songs from the series. Make-up was provided by Wes Dawn and Robert Dawn.
Series creators Jim Mulligan & Jack Mendelsohn were both writers on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967), which heavily influenced this show. "Weird Window Time" was an outright ripoff of a regular segment in the previous series, with its quick joke delivery from characters popping out of doors and windows.
Bella LaGhostly's name was derived from Bela Lugosi, while her look was modeled after Maila Nurmi, the B-movie character. The voice of Frankie was a parody of Boris Karloff. The voice of Mummy was based on Ed Wynn while the long haired mummy called Tiny was a parody of Tiny Tim.
The original series bible dated January 6, 1970 refers to the title of the show as "The Kookie Spookies". Other titles the series went through during pre-productions were "Monster Inn" (which referred to both the setting of the cartoon and it's similarities to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967)); "Rock 'n'Gools" and "The Googlie Goolies".
The four 'guest bands' that regularly appeared were The Mummies and the Puppies, The Spirits of '76, The Rolling Headstones and The Bare Bones Band. Other parody names created during pre-production which were not used included The Japanese Beatles, The Rolling Rocks, The Door Jammers and The Snapping Turtles.