His name and character are a play on Svengali from George du Maurier's 1895 novel Trilby. His original name in development was "Pony Baloney", which was changed for being too obvious. The original draft of The Mane Attraction depicted Coloratura outright firing Svengallop, rather than Svengallop voluntarily abandoning her in the final draft. According to Amy Keating Rogers, his continued shady dealings in Manehattan ultimately end in failure after the events of the episode.