This is the first time that Fisk is explicitly referred to by the name "Kingpin," a name he was known by in the comics.
When Matt first enters the boxing gym, part of a boxing match poster of Carl Crusher Creel vs. Battlin' Jack Murdock is visible. Crusher Creel is also known as the super-villain "The Absorbing Man" in the Marvel Comics Universe, who having once been a boxer but was tricked and given superhuman abilities by the arch-villain Asgardian Loki. Creel also has a recurring role in another Marvel television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013), being played by actor Brian Patrick Wade.
This features the longest cold open of the series, with 13 minutes before the title sequence.
Vincent D'Onofrio (Wilson Fisk) and Annabella Sciorra (Rosalie Carbone) previously starred together in Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) as Detective Robert Goren and Detective Carolyn Barek respectively.