The Billion Dollar Safari begins at Uncle Scrooge's Zoo. Carl Barks had already introduced readers to the "largest zoo in the world" in the adventure of the Unicorn's Trail, which was published in Four Color Comics 263 in February 1950. In 1988, Don Rosa returned, along with Donald and Daisy, to this legendary zoo in The Crocodile Collector, a story published in the United States in Donald Duck Adventures. The animals depicted by Carl Barks are fantastic, but not nonexistent, as they are enjoyable satirical comments inspired by contemporary reality.
For Uncle Scrooge 54, Carl Barks designed a cover based on his story, as he did for the previous ten issues. Since October 1963, he had stopped proposing simple gag panels. The publisher chose one of the three designs submitted by Carl Barks - the other two are presented on pages 188 and 189 - which will be reused in the reissue of the story in Uncle Scrooge Adventures 16 in 1989.