 Specifically, the show aimed to show the chain of people who were "participants up and down the subprime food chain".The show featured Adam Davidson, a business correspondent for National Public Radio and Alex Blumberg, a producer for the show, interviewing and reporting on the financial crisis.Blumberg described it as trying to answer the question “why are they lending money to people who can’t afford to pay it back?”

The episode's name "The Giant Pool of Money" is derived from the description used in the show of fixed-income securities; it was identified in passing with the global saving glut.