When Ducky gives the name of the new identity for the defector, Ilya Sokolov, he says it was based on a character from an old TV show, whose alias is Ivan Kuryakin. David McCallum (Doctor Mallard) who relayed this information played Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964).
Kompromat, the episode title, is Russian for Compromising Material.
References to previous episodes:
- Higher Education (2022) - First encounter with Delilah's former Teacher's Assistant Evelyn Shaw
- Bridges (2023) - Alden Parker is a victim of Identity Theft. The perpetrators were John and Renee Watts
- Old Wounds (2023) - Parker jinxed the team by stating it was not a busy day
- Butterfly Effect (2023) - Innocent bystanders collapsed as a result of accidental exposure to knockout gas. The gas was going to be used to acquire a hard drive from Senator Miller's safe. The drive contained photos of : Delilah's former Teacher's Assistant Evelyn Shaw, as well as John and Renee Watts, who were involved in Parker's identity getting stolen. All were Russian sleeper spies, and all of them were active volunteers on Miller's reelection campaign. The mastermind behind the scheme was also a Russian Agent, Nate Billings.
In the prison yard, Torres is reading "The Art of War" by the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (544 BC - 496 BC).
The USS Cortland (DDG-144) is a fictional ship (like all ships in the NCIS franchise), the ship shown is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, it is unknown which specific ship stood in for the Cortland as there are no ships of that class named Cortland, and the highest hull number in service is DDG-123. There has only been one ship with that name in the US Navy and that was the USS Cortland (APA-75), a Gilliam-class attack transport named after Cortland County, New York and was in service for the Navy from January 1, 1945 to December 30, 1946.