Batfink was produced by Hal Seeger Productions from the spring of 1966 to the fall of 1967. It took as parodic source the wildly popular Batman television series, which premiered the previous January. Thinking quickly, Seeger rushed the first two Batfink pilot cartoons into production. Beginning in September 1967, Screen Gems released the package of 100 five-minute Batfink cartoons into local syndication, where they aired in locally-produced cartoon compilation programs. In New York City, WNEW-TV aired them as part of the Paul Winchell show.

The main characters in the Batfink cartoons included Batfink himself, who boasted supersonic sonar-radar and wings like a shield of steel, his assistant Karate, a hulking Japanese martial arts expert who talked with a Brooklyn accent, and archvillain Hugo A Go Go. Frank Buxton (formerly the host of the ABC game show Get The Message and also a fixture on that network's Discovery) voiced Batfink and Hugo, and Len Maxwell did Karate and the Chief. Both actors played many other characters as well and also wound up working together on other projects such as the Woody Allen spy dub-fest What's Up, Tiger Lily?