In Abu Hassan's cave, Popeye jokingly asks Wimpy "How did you get in here, young fella?" while the joke refers to Wimpy having been taken away by the bandits, it also refers to _Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)_(TV), the previous big-budget Popeye feature: Wimpy had wandered into Sindbad's home during a standoff, and a surprised Popeye asked him the same thing.
The story is inspired by the story "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", but Ali Baba is only mentioned in the title and doesn't appear at all in the film. It could be argued, though, that Popeye takes Ali Baba's role in the tale.
This was the second of the "Popeye Specials", a trilogy of "Popeye" feature-length films that were filmed in Technicolor.