During the premiere week, users could color in frames from the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song online and had a chance for them to be used in the opening sequence.

The original American airing of "Squid Noir" featured each frame of the last minute of the episode also colored by viewers.

The episode was written by Andrew Goodman, storyboarded by John Trabbic, and directed by Dave Cunningham, with Alan Smart and Tom Yasumi serving as animation directors.

After the fight, Bubble Bass's action figure breaks and he begins crying, as Squidward concludes that the comic book store was a dead end.

"Squid Noir" was watched by 1.855 million viewers on its premiere, with a Nielsen rating of 0.4, making it the fifth most-watched cable program of the day.

[3][4][5] John Schwartz of Bubble Blabber gave the episode a score of 6 out of 10, praising its colors and black and white "noir" look, while criticizing its premise, feeling it was too clichéd, and its "pretty plain jane" dialogue.