After Joo Dee had left Team Avatar at their new home, Sokka noticed Pong spying on them from his home across the street. When Sokka questioned him regarding the Hundred Year War, Pong hesitated at answering. When he was asked to explain his awkward, dismissive behavior, he stated he did not want to get into any trouble, furthering that he had waited three years to acquire his house. Pong warned Aang and his friends to not mention the War within the walls, to look out for the Dai Li, and to stay away from them. This showed that Pong was well aware of the Dai Li's control over the populace of Ba Sing Se.
The writers were originally going to have another neighbor living with Pong named "Ping" for comical reasons, but they decided not to put it in the episode, because it was "Not funny enough to put in the episode."[2]
In the DVD commentary for "City of Walls and Secrets", the creators said that they had initially intended for Pong to have a much larger role, supposedly comical, that would stretch to the end of the season, but that he got edited out in early subsequent revisions.