This was originally released under the name Mr. Bug Goes To Town, then under Hoppity Goes Town. Both names are takeoffs on the film Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. Max Fleischer wanted to do a feature film based on Maurice Maeterlinck's "The Life of the Bee." Unable to get the film rights, he devised an original story along the same lines, making this the first animated feature not adapted from a work of literature. It was also the first one to take place in contemporary times, rather than "long ago and far away." The titles are shown over what seems to be a 3-dimensional background because it is. The Fleischer studio pioneered the idea of building models and filming them rather than drawing background plates. They did this several times in the "Popeye" cartoons. 

 

Ted Pierce was loaned to Fleischer Studios from Warner Bros. where he was a writer for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Pierce also lent his unique bass voice to several Warner cartoons as well. Much of this movie's financial failure is blamed on the fact that it was released on December 5, 1941, only two days before Pearl Harbor was bombed.  As a result of the box-office failure of this film, Paramount fired Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer and took over their studio, renaming it Famous Studios. The production of this film precipitated the rift between Max and Dave Fleischer, a rift that was never resolved. One reason for this rift was that Dave wanted to write the musical score for Mr. Bug, which Max refused.