Commander Ransom (played by Jerry O'Connell) fawns over Boimler's poster of Number One (played by Rebecca Romijn), calling her "the hottest Number One ever." Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn are married in real life. Both Romijn's and O'Connell's characters are first officers on a starship.
When Boimler mounts the saddle in Pike's office by throwing his leg over the back of it, he calls out "Riker!" This is a reference to Commander William Riker, first officer of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), who had a unique way of sitting down by throwing his leg over the back of a chair. This has come to be known as the "Riker maneuver" in fan circles. Boimler served under Captain Riker aboard the USS Titan in the second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020). Jack Quaid reportedly improvised this line in honor of Jonathan Frakes, who played Riker on 'TNG', and also directed this episode.
Mariner refers to "a dystopian San Francisco in the middle of a riot", in reference to DS9: Past Tense, Part II, which was directed by Jonathan Frakes.
As a special surprise during San Diego Comic-Con 2023, this episode premiered 5 days early. The remainder of season 2 was moved up a week to compensate for the resulting hole in the release schedule.
The title of this episode - "Those Old Scientists" - is a term that Commander Ransom (USS Ceritos) uses to refer to the 2260s. The abbreviation - TOS - also stands for "The Original Series", a retronym for the first "Star Trek" series which took place in the 2260s and has characters which appear in Strange New Worlds, like Spock, Uhura, Chapel, Pike, M'Benga, and Kirk.