The episode was a television special written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Steven Banks and Dani Michaeli, and the animation was directed by supervising director, Alan Smart and Tom Yasumi.

Upon release, the episode drew 6.6 million viewers, making it the top animated telecast of 2010, and was met with positive reviews.

He gives SpongeBob the key to the vault in which the recipe is hidden, and he and Patrick board a train to the bank for the safe deposit box.

Patrick stops the engine by throwing a boulder on the track, causing it to flip over and nearly collide with a retirement home.

[4] The episode was branded by Nickelodeon as a television special called "Mystery with a Twistery" in which: "Mr. Krabs sends the Krabby Patty recipe to a far away vault for safe keeping so that Plankton can’t get to it.

"[5][6][7] "The Great Patty Caper" was released on a DVD compilation of the same name on March 8, 2011, by Paramount Home Entertainment.

[8][9][10][11][12] The DVD includes the episode itself, "Growth Spout", "Stuck in the Wringer", "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy", "The Inside Job", "Greasy Buffoons", and the "Model Sponge".

[19][20] The premiere ranked as the top program for Thursday, November 11, night with all children and tween demographics, posting double- and triple-digit gains for Nickelodeon.

"[26] Sandy Angulo Chen of Common Sense Media gave the episode 3/5 stars and wrote "There's still no hidden educational purpose to the series, but it does expose kids to plot structure, character development, predictability, and the various ways that humor is used in a story.

"[14] Marty Shaw of BSC Kids, on the ratings, said "SpongeBob SquarePants has been on the air since 1999 and the November 11th episode was the eight show of the eight season.