[4] Dog in Boots parodies costume and historical drama films, particularly the musical miniseries d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978)[5][6] that was incredibly popular in the Soviet Union.
[7][8] The concept of this film is similar to the 1981 series Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds: the main characters are dogs, while Cardinal Richelieu's evil guards and Milady are cats.
D'Artagnan sneaks into the king's palace and reveals his feeling to the bichon singing that "I am not thoroughbred, which is a minus, but I am noble hearted, and that is a plus" and that he is "ready to fight a dozen cats" for her.
Dog in Boots was created in traditional hand-drawn animation technique with character design by Sergey Marakasov.
[14] Music was performed by Kris Kelmi's band Rock Atelier [ru] with lyrics written by Mikhail Libin.
It was cited as one of the films that have opened "new verges" in Yefim Gamburg's talent, such as "lyrical mood, elegance, fanciful fantasy".
[9][18] Yefim Gamburg recalled that shooting Dog in Boots was "a real feast" and not only for him, but "for the whole staff", because the studio animators enjoyed actors' performance and cinematography, also "the theme was merry, and the characters were funny".
[14] Bosporus magazine's critic mentions that "there is no such person among our readers who haven't seen" Dog in Boots, which he calls "simple and funny parody".
[6][14] These songs were equally popular with Mikhail Boyarsky's of the d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978),[6] the miniseries that Dog in Boots parodies.