"Here Comes Garfield" was "Garfield" creator Jim Davis' first television special, coming after his 1980 book "" topped "The New York Times" bestsellers list. For the opening sequence, Garfield dances to the theme song. In 1981, Davis was working in a California studio on how to convincingly depict this, as in previous comics, the fictional cat always walked on all four feet. "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz was in the same studio that day, and redrew Davis' work, advising him, "The problem is, you've made Garfield's feet too small. Little tiny cat feet". "Peanuts" TV special producers Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson also produced "Here Comes Garfield", a consequence of the two comics sharing the same syndicate, United Media.