The cards from Arabian Nights are based on the Tales of 1,000 Nights and a Night (a.k.a. Arabian Nights). All of the cards are based on parts of these stories, like Aladdin's Lamp and Aladdin's Ring.

Arabian Nights was originally going to be printed with a different back design. Wizards' original plans were for every set to have it's own, unique back design. But playtesting showed that players hated the idea. So, the original design was kept.