The title refers to the newly formed Barksdale detail.
The music of The Pogues, a Celtic folk/punk band, is featured many times during the series. The Pogues originally called themselves Pogue Mahone. This makes the naming of Detectives Polk and Mahone even more ironic.
This episode introduces Lester Freamon, Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski and Leandor Sydnor.
John Doman (Major Rawls) goes on to play the father-in-law of Dominic West (McNulty) in The Affair. Their characters clash in that series as well.
The oft spoken detectives names "Polk, Mahone" create a homophone for the Gaelic "póg mo thóin" which means "kiss my a**".