This movie and Saludos Amigos (1942) were created by Disney in order to improve the United States of America's relations with South American countries during World War II.
During the final years of World War II, the character of Panchito Pistoles introduced in this film served as a minor military symbol. He was the mascot of the 201st Fighter Squadron, a Mexican fighter airplane squadron that served that assisted the American forces in the recapture of the Philippines. The likeness of Panchito was also painted as nose art on an American bomber airplane, a North American B-25 Mitchell. The original airplane was scrapped in 1949 but another B-25 Mitchell was fashioned into a replica of it with the same Panchito image. It is still in civilian service and appears in air-shows.
Clarence Nash also provides the voice of Donald Duck in the Spanish-dubbed version, giving Donald a charming American accent that complements José Carioca's Brazilian and Panchito's Northern Mexican ones.
The ethnicity of the protagonist of "The Flying Gauchito" is depicted differently in the English and Spanish versions of the film. In the English version, the Gauchito is from Uruguay, while in the Spanish version he is from Argentina.
The famed cartoonist Don Rosa made several sequels to this story in printed comics, setting José and Panchito up as Donald's only true friends. This is one of the few stories that he worked in to his Duck universe that is not part of the Barks canon.