The game was originally in development for the GameCube, under the working title of "DK Bongo Blast". As its name implied, the game could be played using the Donkey Kong Bongos controller. However, due to the GameCube becoming an obsolete platform, the game was moved over to be a Wii title.

The final designs for the new Kremling characters, such as Kip, Kass, Kalypso, and Kludge, were designed internally by Nintendo. Paon were the ones who originally proposed the creation of new Kremling characters, but Nintendo's in-house character management team handled the rest.

Paon's initial proposal also includes Kopter, a Kremling enemy who first appeared in Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!. While he would appear in the final game, his initial concept design is notably closer to the original DKC3 look. The concept art also shows a redesigned Krusha, another Kremling type from the first Donkey Kong Country, who in the final game was replaced by the aforementioned Kludge, as well as an unused small Kremling named キャリー (Kyarī) or "Karry" and an unused female Kremling named クレッサ (Kuressa) or "Kressa". These latter two characters would presumably evolve into Kip and Kalypso respectively in the final game.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest introduces a purple variant of the animal buddy Squawks, known as Quawks, who reappears in its sequel, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! Quawks would later appear as an item in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, and make a cameo appearance as a background element in the "DK Island & Emerald Rush" DLC for Donkey Kong Bananza. Rare themselves never seem to have given Quawks a name, and just referred to him as simply "Purple Squawks" in DKC2's Player's Guidebook, and Squawks' "purple cousin" in DKC3's Player's Guidebook. It was the Japanese-localized material for these games that would give him the コークス (Kōkusu) or "Quawks" moniker, and the Japanese-created Donkey Kong Barrel Blast years later would be the first time the name was used in English.