The cartoon starts with Mickey sound asleep after reading Lewis Carroll's "Through The Looking-Glass". However, an astral projection of Mickey enters the world of dreams, walking through his nearby mirror and into a surreal version of his house, taking part in a series of escapes that include shrinking himself down to the size of an actual mouse, dancing around with gloves and cards, and then dealing with the King of Hearts and his army of cards in the ending.
In 2002, a GameCube-exclusive title called Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse was released, and is considered to be a loose adaptation of the cartoon itself. It is also used as a basis for the opening of Epic Mickey, while also appearing as its own standalone sidescrolling level.
Tropes:
- Alice Allusion: The title is a play off of Through the Looking Glass. He even has the book on his bed while asleep.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Many of the furniture and possessions gain faces and personality in the dream version of Mickey's house.
- The Cameo: King Neptune, from the Silly Symphonies short of the same name, appears when Mickey is running across a globe and falls into the ocean, only to get knocked away by the king.
- Crashing Dreams: The ringing of the telephone as Mickey escapes the mirror world eventually turns out to be Mickey's alarm clock ringing; upon waking up Mickey even "answers" the alarm clock before realizing what happened and going back to sleep.
- Dream Episode: The cartoon makes it clear off the bat that Mickey is just having a dream.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Mickey ends up shrinking to the size of an actual mouse by eating a walnut.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The Queen of Hearts card is modeled after actress Greta Garbo. The King of Hearts is based on Charles Laughton as Henry VIII.
- Pun: During the climax, the living radio gives the signal "Calling all cards!", a play off the old police phrase "Calling all cars!"
- Random Events Plot: Mickey has a dream, goes through a surreal vision of his house with living objects, gets chased out by the King of Hearts, and awakens—only to go back to sleep again. The end.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The story is a stream of conscious narrative that has no real point or stakes to it—it's just Mickey experiencing a weird dream after reading a Lewis Carroll book, and it ends roughly the same way it began--with Mickey sleeping.
- Shout-Out: The scene where Mickey is dancing with the gloves is modeled after the dance numbers of Fred Astaire.
