The story for this adventure is taken from Ed Herron's Penguin story in Batman 169 (Feb 1965), "Partners in Plunder". The only addition by the show's producers was the sub-plot involving Hollywood star Dawn Robbins (Leslie Parrish). The rest follows the comic book story closely.
First appearance of Warden Crichton.
A scene from this episode appears on a television in the 2019 film by M. Night Shyamalan, "Glass".
The insect listening devices were likely based on a popular toy of the time, Mattel's Creepy Crawlers. The user poured a substance called plastigoop into molds and then, after heating in the device's 'oven', it produced rubbery miniature insect toys.
Music and dialogue from this story appears on the original TV soundtrack album originally released in 1966.