Lawrence and the kids are using a metal detector in the backyard, which prompts Lawrence to wax ruminative about the early 1900s. The entire episode becomes a faux-flashback, right down to an ancestor of Doofenshmirtz's facing against Sweary The Swan.
This episode contains examples of the following Tropes:
- American Gothic Couple: The Farmer and His Wife are dressed in similar clothes and positioned in front of a similar house seen in the painting.
- Artistic License – History: The Lumière brothers, Louis and Auguste, are often considered to be one of the earliest pioneers of cinema. However, they were based in France and there is no record of them appearing at a World's Fair in America.
- Barbershop Quartets Are Funny: The "Doofenshmirtz Evil Amalgamated" jingle is done by a barbershop quartet.
- Brick Joke:
- One of the chores on Candace's to-do list is doing "whatever this is
". Later, when Candace tries to bust her brothers, her mother says she'll come out as soon as she's done doing "whatever this is". - At the end of the flashback, Von Doofenshmirtz is lifted into the air, cursing his nemesis as usual. When Lawrence finishes his story, Von Doofenshmirtz, now with a long beard and gray hair, lands in the backyard asking how long he was up there.
- One of the chores on Candace's to-do list is doing "whatever this is
- Chained to a Railway: Von Doofenshmirtz ties up Sweary the Swan and dumps him on the tracks of a railroad.
- Creator Cameo: Auguste Lumière is designed after Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. During the silent film sequence, he is seen talking to a steampunk version of Dan Povenmire.
- Dastardly Whiplash: Von Doofenshmirtz is this to a tee, right down to the twirling mustache.
- Elseworld: Pretty much the last episode to do this before the Star Wars episode.
- Failed a Spot Check: Candace is apparently unaware that the water buckets she is carrying are leaking, lampshaded by Phineas.
- Framing Device: The events are told in flashback by Lawrence to the kids.
- Game of Chicken: Sweary uses Phineas's chore machine to play a game of "swan-chicken" with Von Doofenshmirtz.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Professor Elemental is seen holding a pipe, but not seen smoking it due to standards and practices, since it is part of his stage persona in real life.
- Meaningful Name: The people who hear Sweary's honks react like those sounds are foul language.
- My Nayme Is: Norm's steampunk counterpart is named Pneumatic Pnorman.Von Doofenshmirtz: And both of those are spelled with a P. Y'know, the... the P's are silent. I don't even know why they put 'em in there if they're not gonna pronounce it. It's just a waste of a good letter. That's what it is. But I babble. Back on topic.
- Profanity Police: Apparently, Sweary's squawks are way too colorful for a children's animated television program, and that's how he got his name.
- Rearrange the Song: A tenor banjo-heavy old-timey rendition of the "Quirky Worky Song" plays when the gang begins doing their chores.
- Retraux:
- The flashback of the episode has an uneven black border and slightly faded color gradient to make it look like it an old film.
- When a camera crew starts to film Von Doofenshmirtz's rampage, the episode becomes a black and white silent film for a short time.
- Running Gag:
- Pneumatic Pnorman has difficulty differentiating between different objects. He thinks Sweary is a cucumber and that Vanessa is a coin.Pnorman: No wonder she couldn't fit in the gumball machine.
- Von Doofenshmirtz attempting to gloat but whatever he is saying is blocked out by the loud hissing of his giant hammering swan.
- Pneumatic Pnorman has difficulty differentiating between different objects. He thinks Sweary is a cucumber and that Vanessa is a coin.
- Shout-Out: At a close-up of the Civil War coin Steampunk!Lawrence finds, a narrator speaks of the history in the manner of Ken Burns' The Civil War. The narration is taken verbatim from The Other Wiki's page on the Battle of Antietam.
- Shown Their Work: The Farmer's Wife berates her husband for creating a fuzzy doll shaped like a bear. These bears, named for then President Theodore Roosevelt, were introduced at a toy fair back in 1903.
- Special Guest: Professor Elemental does the episode's song.
- Steampunk: This episode takes all the elements of this sci-fi subgenre and brings them into a typical Phineas episode.
- Stylistic Suck: Megaburns' zoetrope is done with Limited Animation, while Carl's zoetrope has more frames.
- Swans A-Swimming: Perry's counterpart in the past is Sweary the Swan, a green-feathered swan.
- The Voiceless: Steampunk counterparts to the Fireside Girls and Irving are seen at the World's Fair, but have no lines. Vanessa also appears with no lines.
