A "backwards episode" told in reverse order, where Perry the Platypus finds himself in the thrall of Dr. Doofenshmirtz, while Phineas and his friends build a giant cheese-themed amusement park.
Tropes:
- Back to Front: This episode starts with Perry the Platypus serving as a butler to Dr. Doofenshmirtz (who's in his underwear for some reason), Carl wearing a squirrel costume trapped in a cage, and a dwarf in a wrestling costume partying with dancers dressed like the British Royal Guard, among other weirdness. It then works its way back to the beginning to show how things lead to this all this craziness before returning to normal time to show its conclusion.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Isabella borrows Candace's "It Was Here, I Swear!" phrase when the kids arrive home to see Cheesetopia is gone.
- Credits Gag: The episode title is shown backwards as "ƨuqγɟɒlᑫ ɘ⑁ɟ ʇo ƨniɒmɘЯ ɘ⑁T" before flipping around to normal as a foreshadowing of the reverse nature of the episode.
- Dissimile: Both Doof and Phineas unknowingly compare situations to the other's.
- When Carl sneaks into D.E.I., Doof says, "Well, now, it appears that fate has dumped our mysterious guest like an immense pile of assorted 'cheeses' onto the 'lawn' of my evil lab. (Beat) Yeah, I know it's a strange metaphor, but I stand by it."
- Later (or in the chronology of the episode, earlier), Phineas tells the delivery guy "Just dump [the cheese] right there like a caged guy in a squirrel costume! (to Ferb) What? I stand by that metaphor."
- Dude, Not Funny!: When Major Monogram traces his hand on a piece of paper, he turns it into a picture of Agent T, a turkey. Perry freaks out and Monogram says, "What, too soon?". This is a Continuity Nod to the episode "Traffic Cam Caper", where it was revealed that the O.W.C.A. lost Agent T last November.
- Extreme Close-Up: Monogram's face is shown in an extreme closeup on Perry's screen because Carl has the day off and Major Monogram doesn't know how to operate the camera equipment.
- Fan Disservice: Doofenshmirtz spends nearly the entire episode in his underwear, to the point where Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated's Evil Jingle is altered to "Doofenshmirtz in his underwear!".
- Good-Times Montage: The montage of Perry acting as Doof's butler, set to an instrumental version of "My Wettest Friend".
- Hurricane of Puns: Buford's cheese puns become a Running Gag.
- How We Got Here: The episode begins with multiple weird things going on at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, then the episode goes Back to Front to show why.
- It Makes Sense in Context: As described in Back to Front, all that weirdness shown at the very beginning of the episode has reasons for existing/happening. But the plot is also super surreal, so it borders on Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.
- In Medias Res: The episode opens up on the sheer weirdness currently happening at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated; Doofenshmirtz in his underwear with an -Inator in the background shooting at the sky, Perry the Platypus dressed as a butler and spinning a giant hamster wheel, Carl dressed as a squirrel berating a bloated Major Monogram, and a dwarf dressed as a wrestler accompanied by a group of Buckingham guards dancing to techno music.
- Mind Control: Doofenshmirtz's Butler-Inator turns Perry the Platypus into his obedient butler. He's able to snap himself out of it thanks to a Note to Self.
- Noodle Incident: Just before the Fireside Girls go out to distribute flyers for Cheesetopia, Isabella says they were going to earn their Flyer Delivery badge, to which Adyson replies "Again?"Isabella: Is there something you wish to say, Adyson?
- Note to Self: When Carl spills grape juice on Perry, he goes to the bathroom to wipe it off; he then sees a message on his chest reading "I fight evil". It is then revealed that when Doofenshmirtz sent Perry through the Butler-Inator, Perry wrote the message on his chest with a marker just before he went unconscious in the hopes it would snap his future self out of it.
- Plot Allergy: Major Monogram is revealed to be allergic to cheese, too bad it seems to be his favorite food. His grotesque swelling frightens everyone away.
- Red Herring: A whole subplot is dedicated to finding Perry's hat, in hopes that it will jog his memory; it doesn't (see Note to Self). The musical number about Perry's hat even lampshades this, saying "Is this herring red...?".
- Shout-Out:
- The title references The Remains of the Day, a drama about a butler. Fittingly enough, Doofenshmirtz's Butler-Inator brainwashes Perry into becoming his butler.
- Forrest Gump is seen sitting at his trademark bus stop bench. The scene where Perry's hat gets blown around by the wind is a parody of the opening scene of that movie, with the white feather.
- The transitions are very similar to the captions shown in the Seinfeld episode "The Betrayal", aka the Backwards Episode.
- Perry has written "I fight evil" backwards on his chest so he could remember when he looks in a mirror. Leonard, the main protagonist from Memento who had short-term memory loss, used a similar system with tattoos. Furthermore, the episode also uses the movie's famous Back to Front anachronic plot structure before all coming together for the finale.
- Tempting Fate: When she sees the strange things going on at Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc., Linda remarks that she doesn't think her day can get much weirder. Then she gets a call from Candace, who informs her "The cheese mound remains, but the people have fled en masse!"
- Visual Pun: At one point, Buford complains, "All right! Who cut the cheese?!" then the view cuts to Ferb and Baljeet literally cutting cheese.Baljeet: Sorry!
