Shortly before the end of the episode, Dietrich, who is watching TV, notes that "Taxi's on in five minutes." The series Taxi (1978) actually did follow "Barney Miller" on the ABC Thursday night line-up.
One of only a few episodes that showed scenes outside of the squad room.
Harris refers to Mr. Ling as "Ming the Merciless, which was the name of the villain in Flash Gordon (1954).