Most of the character names are homages to earlier film and television. Jimmy Laine was a pseudonym used by Abel Ferrara for his early acting roles in The Driller Killer (1979) and Ms .45 (1981). Nikita is named for the title character played by Anne Parillaud in La Femme Nikita (1990) and Xenia is named for Famke Janssen's character in GoldenEye (1995). Whilst Brendan O'Shaughnessy was a character played by David Jackson in Only Fools and Horses (1981).
Karolina Zajac based Nikita's look and costume on Asia Argento's in xXx (2002), whilst Svetlana Postolachi's look as Xenia was based on Olga Kurylenko in Quantum of Solace (2008).