It was published in the February 1845 issue of Godey's Lady's Book and was intended as a partly humorous sequel to the celebrated collection of Middle Eastern tales One Thousand and One Nights.

While the King is uncertain — except in the case of "the earth being upheld by a cow of a blue color, having horns four hundred in number"[citation needed] — that these mysteries are real, they are actual modern events that occurred in various places during, or before, Poe's lifetime.

Poe biographer Kenneth Silverman notes that the story mocks the idea that technological advancements have positive impact on human culture.

[3] Silverman notes that it was among a group of "negligible comic tales" published around the same period, including "The Angel of the Odd" and "The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq.

"[2] "The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade" was reprinted in the October 25, 1845, issue of the Broadway Journal and in 1850 in the posthumous collection Works.